Domestic equity indices trade marginally higher

Indian equity markets were trading marginally higher in morning deals on account of buying in TECK, IT and Telecom stocks. Traders were getting some encouragement as Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said India's exports are expected to grow by 3-5 per cent to $435-445 billion in this fiscal. However, upside remained capped on expectations that U.S. interest rates have not yet peaked and will remain elevated for a long period. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as market participants awaited more cues on monetary policy from a slew of Federal Reserve events this week, while Chinese stocks rose sharply on the prospect of more stimulus spending by the government.

Back home, in the stock specific developments, Samvardhana Motherson International surged after the company announced the acquisition of 100 per cent stake of SAS Autosystemtechnik GmbH, Germany (SAS) at an enterprise value of euro 540 million (around Rs 4,800 crore). However, Cipla dipped after the company said that the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issued Form 483 with 8 observations after the inspection of its Pithampur manufacturing facilities.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61148.14, up by 145.57 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 60957.81 and 61290.19. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 0.83%, IT up by 0.79%, Capital Goods up by 0.29%, Telecom up by 0.20% and Auto up by 0.19%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.68%, Healthcare down by 0.61%, Energy down by 0.60%, Utilities down by 0.34% and PSU down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.83%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.71%, HCL up by 1.39%, Power Grid up by 1.05% and Infosys up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.51%, Titan down by 0.49%, Tata Motors down by 0.39%, Nestle down by 0.38% and Asian Paints down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel has said India's exports are expected to grow by 3-5 per cent to $435-445 billion in this fiscal. In 2021-22, the country's exports touched an all-time high of $422 billion.

Sakthivel said that the coming months are going to be little challenging unless both global economic growth and geopolitical situation improve drastically. He said ‘However, we will be on course to cross the previous year's goods export target quite easily touching almost $435-445 billion with a growth of over 3-5 per cent this fiscal.’

Contracting for the second month in a row, India's exports dipped by 6.58 per cent to $32.91 billion in January due to a slowdown in global demand. Cumulatively, the country's merchandise exports during April-January 2022-23 rose 8.51 per cent to $369.25 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17955.10, up by 10.90 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 17902.50 and 18004.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.85%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.70%, HCL up by 1.40%, Power Grid up by 0.96% and Infosys up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 5.73%, Adani Enterprises down by 5.50%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.23%, BPCL down by 0.96% and Tata Consumer Produc down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Taiwan Weighted added 92.18 points or 0.59% to 15,571.88, Hang Seng advanced 167.35 points or 0.8% to 20,887.16, Shanghai Composite strengthened 31.78 points or 0.98% to 3,255.80 and KOSPI increased 3.36 points or 0.14% to 2,454.57. However, Jakarta Composite plunged 14.91 points or 0.22% to 6,88.0.80, Straits Times fell 11.11 points or 0.33% to 3,317.26 and Nikkei 225 slipped 0.47 points or 0% to 27,512.66.