Domestic equity indices trade lower with cut around quarter percent

Domestic equity indices were trading in red with cut of around quarter a percent in morning deals on the back of selling by funds and retail investors. Weak cues from global markets weighted on the domestic sentiments. Traders were cautious after a fresh slate of U.S. economic data underscored bets that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates higher for longer. Depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar also weighed down sentiments. Rupee weakened by 5 paise to 82.75 against the dollar at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange market on account of increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks. Traders took note of report that Former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the Budget should have focused more on asset monetisation and privatisation, besides allocating more funds to the social sector schemes.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red on the prospect of more interest rate hikes after Federal Reserve officials hinted at ramping up its monetary tightening campaign in the face of stubbornly high inflation. Back home, on the sectoral front, Capital Goods, Industrials, Metal, Power and Utilities witnessed the maximum gains in trade, while Realty, Bankex, IT, TECK and Healthcare remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61163.36, down by 156.15 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 60921.84 and 61302.72. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29%, while Small cap index up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.02%, Industrials up by 0.70%, Metal up by 0.31%, Power up by 0.30% and Utilities up by 0.16%, while Realty down by 1.33%, Bankex down by 0.65%, IT down by 0.61%, TECK down by 0.58% and Healthcare down by 0.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.54%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.73%, Asian Paints up by 0.58%, Tata Steel up by 0.54% and Power Grid Corp up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.47%, Indusind Bank down by 1.65%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.01%, HCL down by 0.89% and Infosys down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that large scale augmentation would be done to double steel production from the existing 150 million tonnes to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030. Scindia said that the Indian Railways and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) are working together to produce corrosion free steel.

He mentioned ‘with anti-corrosion features and quality to prevent oxidation in steel products, zinc has tremendous marketing potential for sectors like renewable energy and rural electrification. Galvanised steel will give a long life to infrastructure present alongside our long coastline.’ Further, he said India currently is the fourth largest producer of zinc in the world and 80 per cent of zinc produced in India is consumed domestically.

Besides, he stated that the government has announced a huge capex of Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development, which has opened tremendous investment opportunities across the sectors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17993.95, down by 41.90 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 17927.45 and 18034.25. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.82%, Grasim Industries up by 1.72%, BPCL up by 0.78% and UPL up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.36%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.63%, Indusind Bank down by 1.63%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.57% and SBI Life down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Taiwan Weighted lost 77.4 points or 0.5% to 15,473.10, Hang Seng declined 121.37 points or 0.58% to 20,866.30, Shanghai Composite weakened 5.21 points or 0.16% to 3,243.82, KOSPI dropped 19.84 points or 0.8% to 2,455.64, Jakarta Composite plunged 19.44 points or 0.28% to 6,876.22 and Nikkei 225 slipped 195.03 points or 0.7% to 27,501.41. However, Straits Times rose 14.3 points or 0.43% to 3,325.53.