Markets witness bloodbath in early deals; IIP data eyed

Indian equity benchmarks extended previous session’s losses with gap-down opening on Friday tracking a crash overnight on Wall Street and sell-off in other Asian counterparts. Fears of recession resurfaced among investors globally amid persistent concerns about higher-for-longer interest rates. Traders are also looking ahead to the release of the more closely watched monthly US jobs report later in the day. Domestic markets are sailing in a sea of red with cut of around one and half a percent each in early deals. Sensex and Nifty are lingering below their crucial 59,000 and 17,350 levels, respectively. Market participants remained on sidelines ahead of the industrial growth or Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data to be out later in the day. Foreign fund outflows dampened domestic sentiments. The National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore on March 9.

On the sectoral front, metal stocks are trading under pressure with a private report that India exported 52% less finished steel from April to February of current financial  year than it did a year earlier, as slowing global demand hit shipments. In stock specific development, Swan Energy surged after its subsidiary - Triumph Offshore Private signed an agreement to lease out its floating storage regasification vessel to Botas of Turkey.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58936.80, down by 869.48 points or 1.45% after trading in a range of 58884.98 and 59262.47. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 1.36%, while Small cap index was down by 1.06%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex down by 1.87%, Capital Goods down by 1.67%, Metal down by 1.57%, PSU down by 1.51%, Industrials down by 1.51%, while there was no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 0.67% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.28%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.85%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.59%, HDFC Bank down by 2.56%, SBI down by 2.07% and ICICI Bank down by 1.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s exports growth, Union Minister for State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel has said that the country’s merchandise and services exports combined in the current financial year ending March will be close to $760-770 billion. The country's merchandise and services exports stood at $672 billion in the last fiscal.

Patel said ‘we are focusing in every possible way on how we can export more and more because today India's share in global merchandise trade is close to 1.8 per cent. As far as services trade is concerned, it is just 4 per cent. We want to take it to 10 per cent’.

The minister also mentioned that the Indian economy is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and with the increasing globalisation of trade, there is immense potential for Indian businesses, particularly brands to expand their footprint in the international market.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17332.40, down by 257.20 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 17324.35 and 17451.50. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 0.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.34% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.11%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 5.17%, HDFC down by 2.84%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.61%, HDFC Bank down by 2.51% and Apollo Hospital down by 2.09% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng plunged 496.98 points or 2.49% to 19,428.76, Nikkei 225 slipped 459.23 points or 1.6% to 28,163.92, Taiwan Weighted declined 246.74 points or 1.56% to 15,523.92, Jakarta Composite lost 50.21 points or 0.74% to 6,749.59, Shanghai Composite weakened 37.71 points or 1.16% to 3,238.38, KOSPI fell 27.85 points or 1.15% to 2,391.24 and Straits Times was down by 24.36 points or 0.76% to 3,190.15.