Sensex, Nifty remain weak in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained negative in early afternoon deals, tracking weak other Asian markets along with selling at TECK and IT counters. Traders were cautious, amid reports that the government collected Rs 1.50 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) in February. The GST collections for February down from Rs 1.58 lakh crore in January, which were the second-highest monthly collection ever under the indirect tax regime which was introduced in July 2017. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Japan's consumer sentiment improved marginally in February to the highest level in six months. The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index rose to 31.1 in February from 31.0 in January. This was the highest since August 2022, when the reading was 32.5. Among the four sub-indexes, the indicator measuring the view on income growth increased to 36.2 in February, and that for employment rose to 38.0.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59113.81, down by 297.27 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 59025.55 and 59423.79. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.29%, Utilities up by 0.78%, Energy up by 0.46%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36% and Power up by 0.25%, while TECK down by 0.94%, IT down by 0.84%, Bankex down by 0.42%, Auto down by 0.39% and Capital Goods down by 0.26% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.36%, ICICI Bank up by 0.57%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 0.48% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.79%, Axis Bank down by 1.70%, TCS down by 1.52%, Infosys down by 1.45% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh has said that the Indian technology industry is set to grow by 8.4 per cent in FY23 to become a $245 billion sector. She said the sector had revenues of $226 billion in FY22. She added that the cross currency headwinds have shaved off over 2 per cent of the revenue growth.

Ghosh said it will be difficult to make a prediction for revenue growth in FY24, but pointed to a chief executives' survey which said they are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the new fiscal. The sector added 2.90 lakh new jobs to take the overall number to 54 lakh employees in the sector.

She further said the top-five companies have a strong deal pipeline of $18 billion, but there are a slew of headwinds the sector is staring at. She stated that the industry is well on its way to become a $500-billion sector by 2030. The headwinds include the continuing geopolitical challenges triggered by the Ukraine-Russia war and the employability gap.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17378.85, down by 72.05 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 17343.95 and 17445.80. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.68%, Coal India up by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.06%, BPCL up by 1.61% and HCL Technologies up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.86%, Axis Bank down by 1.70%, TCS down by 1.50%, Infosys down by 1.39% and Cipla down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 171.03 points or 0.83% to 20,448.68, Straits Times fell 18.08 points or 0.56% to 3,237.00, Nikkei 225 slipped 17.66 points or 0.06% to 27,498.87 and Shanghai Composite weakened 4.07 points or 0.12% to 3,308.28, while Taiwan Weighted added 0.23 points to 15,598.72, KOSPI increased 15 points or 0.62% to 2,427.85 and Jakarta Composite gained 19.5 points or 0.28% to 6,864.44.