Indian indices trade in fine-fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Friday, after falling for five consecutive sessions, tracking firm trade in Asian markets. Domestic indices are trading in fine-fettle with gains of around a percent each in early deals on the back of board based buying in Industrials, Auto and Healthcare sectors. Some support came in as India’s industrial production inched up 1.9% in March 2022 from 1.7% in February 2022. Though, upside remained capped as India’s headline inflation galloped for a seventh straight month to touch an 8-year high of 7.79 per cent in April on rising food and fuel prices, raising the odds of an interest rate hike by the RBI early next month to tame prices. Besides, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said India's economic growth rate is likely to slow if the central bank hikes interest rates.

Most of the Asian markets are trading higher after the recent losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders continued to pick up stocks at a bargain and reacted to the prospects of sharper and faster rate hikes as well as tighter monetary policies by several central banks to reign in the highest inflation in decades. The markets also reacted positively to news that the U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's appointment of Jerome Powell to a second term as Federal Reserve Chair.

Back home, Venus Pipes & Tubes IPO was subscribed 4.4 times at the end of Day 2 of the offer period. Retail investors bid for 7.5 times their allotted quota, while non-institutional investors portion was subscribed 2.6 times ahead of the final day. In scrip specific development, L&T traded higher as its consolidated net profit rose nearly 10 per cent YoY to Rs 3,621 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53378.23, up by 447.92 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 53257.69 and 53625.25. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index soared 1.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 2.33%, Auto up by 2.30%, Healthcare up by 2.28%, Energy up by 1.87%, Oil & Gas up by 1.72%, while Telecom down by 0.32% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.98%, Titan Company up by 2.40%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.28%, Reliance Industries up by 2.21% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.15%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.55%, TCS down by 0.44%, Wipro down by 0.32% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, industrial production growth remained subdued at 1.9 per cent in March compared to a year ago, mainly due to poor performance by the manufacturing sector which showed staggered impact of the third wave of the pandemic. The IIP growth was 1.7 per cent in February and 1.3 per cent in January this year amid the third wave of COVID-19. Factory output measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had recorded a growth of 24.2 per cent in March 2021. For the month of March 2022, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 148.3. For the full fiscal 2021-22, IIP grew 11.3 per cent as against an 8.4 per cent contraction in 2020-21.

As per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the manufacturing sector, which makes up over three-fourths of the IIP, expanded by meagre 0.9 per cent, compared to a growth of 28.4 per cent in the year-ago period. The mining sector was 4 per cent in March 2022 against a growth of 6.1 per cent in the same month last year. Power sector showed a growth of 6.1 per cent compared to 22.5 per cent growth a year ago. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of March 2022 stood at 144.6, 144.6 and 191.0 respectively.

Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investment, showed a growth of 0.7 per cent in March 2022 against a jump of 50.4 per cent in the year-ago month. The consumer durables segment was in the negative zone, showing a decline of 3.2 per cent against a growth of 59.9 per cent a year ago. However, the primary goods segment, which accounts for nearly 34 per cent of the index, expanded by 5.7 per cent in March compared to 7.9 per cent growth earlier. Intermediate goods and infrastructure/construction goods output was in the positive territory, while consumer non-durable segment contracted.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15963.60, up by 155.60 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 15923.05 and 16032.30. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 7.48%, Sun Pharma up by 3.99%, UPL up by 3.64%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.86% and Titan Company up by 2.35%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.52%, TCS down by 0.42%, Wipro down by 0.38% and Power Grid down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 634.95 points or 2.47% to 26,383.67, Straits Times rose 32.71 points or 1.03% to 3,197.89, Hang Seng jumped 383.55 points or 1.98% to 19,763.89, Taiwan Weighted advanced 202.83 points or 1.30% to 15,819.51, KOSPI added 44.57 points or 1.75% to 2,594.65 and Shanghai Composite inched up by 17.13 points or 0.56% to 3,072.12, while Jakarta Composite was down by 23.91 points or 0.36% to 6,575.93.