Benchmarks remain in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some losses but continued to trade in red in morning deals, due to consistent depreciation of rupee, foreign fund outflows, and prevailing inflation concerns, among others. Traders also remained cautious with a private report that after a gap, the prices of select varieties of pulses have started rising for the past few days due to a delay in the onset of the southwest monsoon over major growing regions of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. However, losses remain capped as some support came as Union Minister Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma emphasised the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector's important role in making India a $5-trillion economy and said that the government will remove all the barriers in credit flow to this sector. He also said that the government was also committed to develop a better system of redressal and debt facilities. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red amid doubts over whether the Federal Reserve can avoid a bruising economic downturn.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52967.26, down by 210.19 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 52612.68 and 52973.01. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.58%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.55%, Oil & Gas up by 0.42%, Basic Materials up by 0.15%, Utilities up by 0.10% and Telecom up by 0.07%, while Bankex down by 0.96%, FMCG down by 0.84%, Consumer Durables down by 0.78%, Realty down by 0.51% and IT down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.16%, Reliance Industries up by 0.96%, Tata Steel up by 0.20%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.15% and Nestle up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.37%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.36%, Titan Company down by 1.99%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.41% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has showed that the growth in Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) deposits moderated to 10 per cent year-on-year in March 2022, compared to an increase of 11.9 per cent a year ago. During 2021-2022, current, savings and term deposits rose by 10.9 per cent, 13.3 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively. The data showed that consistent with the monetary and liquidity conditions, interest rates on term deposits moderated further during fiscal 2021-22.

The share of term deposits bearing over 6 per cent interest rate came down to 14.4 per cent in March 2022 (31 per cent a year ago; 78.7 per cent two years ago). The share of Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) deposits in total deposits has been increasing over the years and stood at 44.8 per cent in March 2022 as compared with 41.7 per cent three years ago. These low-cost deposits accounted for 60.9 per cent and 55.6 per cent of incremental deposits during 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively.

Besides, it showed metropolitan branches of banks, which account for over half of total deposits, accounted for 51.5 per cent in incremental deposits in FY 2021-22. The same stood at 59.6 per cent in the year-ago period. Household sector held the dominant share of 62.6 per cent in total deposits. Female depositors accounted for 19.8 per cent of total deposits in March 2022. Their share in incremental bank deposits during 2021-22 increased to 34.3 per cent from 15.2 per cent in the previous year. Moreover, it mentioned seven states -- Maharashtra, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Gujarat -- together accounted for 63.3 per cent of bank deposits in fiscal 2021-22.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15782.40, down by 67.80 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 15687.80 and 15787.60. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 1.17%, Shree Cement up by 1.08%, Reliance Industries up by 1.03%, Grasim Industries up by 0.52% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.41%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.39%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.38%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.29%, Cipla down by 1.99% and Titan Company down by 1.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 365.11 points or 1.63% to 22,053.86, Nikkei 225 slipped 307.15 points or 1.14% to 26,742.32, Taiwan Weighted dropped 181.06 points or 1.17% to 15,258.86, KOSPI fell 35.40 points or 1.46% to 2,386.69, Shanghai Composite declined 26.16 points or 0.77% to 3,383.05 and Jakarta Composite lost 17.76 points or 0.25% to 6,978.70.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 11.49 points or 0.37% to 3,151.70.