Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks witnessed volatility on Tuesday, with both Sensex and Nifty ending flat. After a positive start, indices remained higher for the most part of the session, as economic think-tank NCAER said business confidence has recovered from the lows of the pre-pandemic (2019-20) and the following two pandemic years. The NCAER-NSE Business Confidence Index (BCI) was higher at 126.6 in the third quarter of 2022-23 than the year-ago level of 124.4. Traders took some support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country's services exports are doing extremely well and going by the current trend these outbound shipments would register about 20 per cent growth in this fiscal (FY23) and cross the $300 billion target despite global economic uncertainties.

However, in the second half of the trading session, indices failed to hold gains and altered between green and red. Traders got cautious after Christian de Guzman - senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service and primary analyst for India said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen declining to 5.6 percent in 2023-24, although it will still be one of the best performing large economies in the G-20. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in its latest data has showed that Investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes slightly dropped to Rs 96,292 crore at the end of December 2022 from the preceding month on higher valuation of domestic markets.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red, as UK budget deficit widened to the highest December level on record largely due to a sharp growth in spending on energy support schemes and huge interest payments driven by high inflation. The data published by the Office for National Statistics showed that public sector borrowing increased by GBP 16.7 billion from the last year to GBP 27.4 billion in December. Asian markets settled mixed on Tuesday, even after Japan's private sector returned to growth territory in January as travel subsidy programme uplifted services activity. The flash survey results from S&P Global showed that the au Jibun Bank flash composite output index advanced to 50.8 from 49.7 in the previous month. A reading above 50.0 indicates expansion.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60978.75, up by 37.08 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 60849.12 and 61266.06. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.30%, while Small cap index down by 0.43%.(Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.17%, IT up by 0.66%, Consumer Durables up by 0.51%, TECK up by 0.45% and FMCG up by 0.15%, while Metal down by 1.21%, Healthcare down by 1.01%, Realty down by 0.95%, PSU down by 0.86% and Telecom down by 0.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.(Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.34%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.27%, HCL Tech. up by 1.47%, HDFC Bank up by 1.35% and HDFC up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.50%, Power Grid Corp down by 1.76%, Tata Steel down by 1.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.31% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.18% were the top losers.(Provisional)

Meanwhile, within two-and-a-half years of the implementation of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), the scheme has mobilized more than Rs 30,000 crore for projects in the agriculture infrastructure sector with a sanctioned amount of Rs 15,000 crore under AIF.

With support of 3% interest subvention, credit guarantee support through CGTMSE for loan of up to Rs 2 crore and facility of convergence with other Central and State Govt. Scheme, AIF is providing all around financial support to the farmers, agri-entrepreneurs, farmer groups like Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs),  Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) etc. and many others to create post-harvest management infrastructure and build community farming asset throughout the country.

Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF) is a financing facility launched on July 8, 2020 under the visionary guidance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets. Under this scheme, Rs 1 lakh crore is to be disbursed by financial year 2025-26 and the interest subvention and credit guarantee assistance will be given till the year 2032-33.

The CNX Nifty ended at 18118.30, down by 0.25 points after trading in a range of 18078.65 and 18201.25. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.(Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.35%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.74%, HCL Tech. up by 1.49% and Britannia up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.41%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.96%, Hindalco down by 1.93%, Power Grid Corp down by 1.84% and Grasim Industries down by 1.72% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 28.78 points or 0.37% to 7,755.89 and Germany’s DAX lost 22.63 points or 0.15% to 15,080.32, while France’s CAC rose 8.25 points or 0.12% to 7,040.27.

Asian markets settled mixed on Tuesday amid most of the regional markets including South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore were closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations. Japanese shares gained tracking Wall Street's strength overnight along with bets for less aggressive interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve.

Nikkei 225 settled higher by 393.15 points or 1.44% to 27,299.19, while Jakarta Composite dipped by 14.08 points or 0.21% to 6,860.85.