Post Session: Quick Review

Key indices spent most part of day in red territory but recovery in last leg of trade helped to end session in green. Risk aversion clearly remained the main theme of the day after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raised the possibility of the U.S. central bank returning to large rate hikes to tackle sticky inflation. Miserable performance of Asian and European stocks also weighed on inventors’ sentiment. Globally, markets were cautious over the Fed raised worries about a possible recession down the line. Banking and Oil & Gas counters enticed investor's attention during the session. After making negative start, soon the broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index added strength to trade higher entire session.

After a day's holiday, markets resumed the day’s trade in red zone following weak US markets overnight as Jerome Powell ignites higher rate fears. Further, indices continued their weak trade despite the Finance Ministry data showed that there has been a rise of 133 per cent in collection of major cess and surcharges levied by the Central government on various products during the five-year period between 2017-18 and 2022-23, as it went up from Rs 2,18,553 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 5,10,549 crore in 2022-23. Traders also overlooked Moody's Analytics’ statement that India's domestic economy, rather than trade, is its primary engine of growth and the slowdown in economic activity late last year will only be temporary. However, in late afternoon session, markets showed some recovery and hit green terrain, as investors braced for future rate hikes.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower as investors reacted to the latest comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Chairman Jerome Powell indicating interest rates may need to go higher for longer. Asian markets ended mostly in red, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. Back home, sectorally, aviation industry stocks were in focus as rating agency Icra revised the outlook for the country's aviation sector to stable from negative, citing fast-paced recovery in the domestic air passenger traffic. In stock specific developments, Adani Power gained after the company amalgamated six wholly-owned subsidiary companies, including Adani Power (Mundra), with itself.

The BSE Sensex ended at 60,348.09, up by 123.63 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 59,844.82 and 60,402.85. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.91%, Power up by 1.79%, Capital Goods up by 1.23%, Industrials up by 1.09% and Auto was up by 0.95%, while Realty down by 0.50%, Consumer Durables down by 0.44%, Metal down by 0.43%, IT down by 0.41% and Healthcare was down by 0.38% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.76%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.39%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.31%, NTPC up by 1.10% and ITC up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.30%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.15%, Infosys down by 1.00%, Sun Pharma down by 0.72% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.55% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Moody's Analytics in its report on emerging market outlook has said that India's domestic economy, rather than trade, is its primary engine of growth and the slowdown in economic activity late last year will only be temporary. It said growth slowed substantially on a year-ago basis, with private consumption lagging overall GDP for the first time since the Delta wave of Covid-19 struck the economy in the second quarter of 2021.

It also said ‘Our take is that the slowdown late last year will be temporary and even salutary, helping to wring some of the demand-side pressures out of the economy without stopping it wholesale. On the external front, better growth in the US and Europe's incipient recovery will propel India at the mid-year mark’. The US and Europe are India's largest trade partners and are important destinations for exports of business services.

It further said India's domestic economy, rather than trade, is its primary engine, in contrast to most other emerging-Asia economies. It added ‘with this in mind we observe India's fourth-quarter performance with caution’. Sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture that are highly linked to private consumption spending either contracted or barely grew during December quarter of current fiscal. The normally faster-growing construction and retail and wholesale trade sectors came in somewhat hotter, though both lagged gains from earlier this year.

It noted that ‘While high interest rates have slowed the domestic economy and curbed imports, external imbalances have widened, putting pressure on the rupee and adding to inflation’. In the current fiscal (2022-23), the GDP is projected to grow by 7 per cent as per official estimates. This would require about 5 per cent GDP expansion in the fourth (January-March) quarter. In 2021-22 the economy grew 9.1 per cent. In 2020-21 (Covid-impacted year), the economy contracted 5.8 per cent, while in 2019-20 the growth was 3.9 per cent.

The CNX Nifty ended at 17,754.40, up by 42.95 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 17,602.25 and 17,766.50. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.79%, Adani Ports up by 3.08%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.86%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.37% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.25%, Hindalco down by 1.63%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.08%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.02% and Infosys down by 0.98% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.68 points or 0.29% to 7,896.80, France’s CAC fell 20.41 points or 0.28% to 7,318.86 and Germany’s DAX was down by 15.61 points or 0.1% to 15,543.92.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street sell off overnight after US Chair Powell warned that US interest rate might need to go up faster and higher than expected to get inflation under control. Meanwhile, investors are awaiting the release of US nonfarm payrolls report later in the week and next week's inflation figures. Chinese shares declined after trade data showed Chinese imports and exports both shrank in the first two months of the year that has clouded the outlook for the Chinese economy. However, Japanese shares gained as a weakening yen buoyed exporters.