Sluggish trend continues on Dalal Street

In line with Asian peers, Indian bourses continue their lackadaisical trade in noon session with Sensex and Nifty trading down by 521 and 176 points, respectively. All sectoral indices on BSE were trading in red with Metal becoming top loser down by around 3.81% followed by basic materials and realty stocks. Sentiments were fragile as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,701.21 crore on Tuesday. Fears of aggressive interest rate hikes and their impact on economic growth also kept investors cautious. Meanwhile, traders globally awaited a key testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell due later in the day. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower amid persistent worries about interest rates and inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52011.00, down by 521.07 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 51879.78 and 52272.85. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.65%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 3.81%, Basic Materials down by 2.18%, Realty down by 1.84%, Utilities down by 1.68% and Consumer Durables was down by 1.63%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.47%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.31%, HDFC up by 0.22% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.21%, Indusind Bank down by 2.99%, Titan Co down by 2.91%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.26% and Wipro was down by 2.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Credit Rating Agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the domestic metro rail projects will offer Rs 80,000 crore business opportunities for construction firms over the next five years. It said in India, 15 cities have operational metro networks of about 746 km (many of which are undertaking expansion), and another seven cities have under-implementation metro projects of about 640 km.

The report stated that this is apart from 1,400 km of metro rail projects worth Rs 2 trillion in the approval/proposal stages, of which a 352-km of new metro network has been approved, with the balance being in the proposal stage. It said given the government's thrust for infrastructure development, the metro rail network is likely to witness 2.7 times expansion in the next five years.

ICRA further said typically, the metro rail development cost ranges between Rs 280-320 crore/km for elevated metro and the cost could be much higher in the case of an underground metro network. It also said civil construction forms 35-45 per cent of the overall cost. It added that given the large size of the metro projects, this is likely to offer sizeable opportunities for construction companies over the next five years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15462.15, down by 176.65 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 15426.60 and 15565.40. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.88%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.15%, TCS up by 0.50%, HDFC up by 0.26% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 0.18%. On the flip side, UPL down by 5.43%, Hindalco down by 5.14%, Tata Steel down by 4.22%, JSW Steel down by 3.91% and Indusind Bank was down by 3.08% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; KOSPI fell 61.41 points or 2.55% to 2,347.52, Nikkei 225 slipped 96.76 points or 0.37% to 26,149.55, Jakarta Composite lost 31.11 points or 0.44% to 7,012.96, Straits Times trembled 11.79 points or 0.38% to 3,105.69, Taiwan Weighted dropped 380.89 points or 2.42% to 15,347.75, Hang Seng decreased 339.56 points or 1.57% to 21,220.03 and Shanghai Composite was down by 24.71 points or 0.75% to 3,282.01.