Post Session: Quick Review

Indian benchmark indices staged a sluggish performance on Wednesday’s volatile trading session as traders preferred to play safe ahead of important events like U.S. inflation data, India December inflation data and November industrial production which are scheduled to be released on tomorrow. After trading in green most part of day, markets failed to end up in green and settled with minor losses. Shrugging off mostly positive global cues, domestic bourses witnessed choppiness throughout the day as sentiments got weighed down after World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, and the world’s major economic engines sputter. It expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%.

Indices made cautious start and turned volatile, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in a speech on Tuesday, refrained from commenting on rate policy but said the Fed's independence was essential for it to battle inflation. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said that the central bank would have to raise interest rates further to combat high inflation and that would likely lead to softer job market conditions. Further, markets wavered between gains and losses till the end amid fears of earnings downgrades. Besides, a private report said that private equity investments into domestic companies fell sharply year-on-year by 42 per cent to $23.3 billion in 2022, which is the lowest since 2019, when it was $15.8 billion.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as investors gear up for more inflation data this week, with U.S. consumer price data for December due Thursday. Asian markets ended mixed as investors were buoyed by China's reopening and optimism that key data due this week will signal a further slowdown in US inflation. Back home, Auto stocks remained in limelight as the Auto Expo 2023 started today. Real estate related stocks remained in watch as a private report stating that Indian real estate got $5.2 billion of institutional investments across 47 deals in the calendar year 2022 (CY22), a time of geopolitical headwinds and inflationary pressures. Investments increased 19 per cent compared to 2021.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60,105.50, down by 9.98 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 59,805.78 and 60,364.77. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.80%, Capital Goods up by 0.55%, Bankex up by 0.47%, Industrials up by 0.36% and IT was up by 0.30%, while FMCG down by 0.98%, Utilities down by 0.78%, Healthcare down by 0.73%, Energy down by 0.53% and Auto was down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.70%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.58%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.26%, TCS up by 1.24% and HDFC Bank up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.37%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.99%, Titan Company down by 1.35%, Reliance Industries down by 1.33% and Nestle down by 1.25% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the World Bank has said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at the rate of 6.6 percent in the next financial year (FY24) even as it projected a gloomy outlook for the global economy. It stated that India’s growth is projected to slow, to 6.6 percent in FY24 before falling back toward its potential rate of just above 6 percent. Last month, the World Bank had projected India's FY 23 growth at 6.4 percent.

Further, it slashed its 2023 growth forecasts to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia's war in Ukraine continues, and the world's major economic engines sputter. The Bank said it expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%.

Besides, it forecast global growth in 2024 to pick up to 2.7% -- below the 2.9% estimate for 2022 -- and said average growth for the 2020-2024 period would be under 2% -- the slowest five-year pace since 1960. The bank said major slowdowns in advanced economies, including sharp cuts to its forecast to 0.5% for both the United States and the euro zone, could foreshadow a new global recession less than three years after the last one.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17,895.70, down by 18.45 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17,824.35 and 17,976.35. There were 18 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.81%, Sun Pharma up by 1.60%, BPCL up by 1.48%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.47% and HDFC Bank up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.44%, Cipla down by 2.88%, Divi's Lab down by 2.58%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.37% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.91% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 46.16 points or 0.6% to 7,740.65, France’s CAC increased 50.88 points or 0.74% to 6,920.02 and Germany’s DAX was up by 114.50 points or 0.77% to 14,889.10.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday with slower interest rate hike expectations from the US Central Bank. Wall Street gains overnight on relief that US Fed Chair Jerome Powell refrained from commenting on interest rate policy in a speech at a symposium, also supported market sentiments. Japanese shares rallied with export-oriented stocks gaining on recent weakness in the Japanese currency, yen. In Hong Kong, tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings soared after China signalled that it would wind down regulatory scrutiny of the country's biggest internet firms. Even though, the market participants remained cautious ahead of the release of inflation data from US due on Thursday. Chinese shares dropped as PBoC data showed that Chinese banks extended 1.4 trillion yuan in new yuan loans in December, up from November and beats expectations.