Benchmarks continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased some losses but continued to trade lower in morning deals, amid weak global cues. Sentiments remained down-beat with a private report that retail inflation in India likely eased a bit last month but stayed above the Reserve Bank of India's upper threshold for a second straight month, keeping the central bank on course for further policy tightening. Some concern also came with the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore on March 9. However, some losses got trimmed as traders found some support with Union Minister for State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel’s statement that India'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. On the global front, All Asian markets are trading lower ahead of an update on United States employment amid worries about possible further interest rate hikes.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59106.69, down by 699.59 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 58884.98 and 59262.47. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.80%, while Small cap index was down by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.63%, Power up by 0.55% and FMCG up by 0.11%, while Bankex down by 1.66%, Capital Goods down by 0.98%, IT down by 0.97%, PSU down by 0.93% and Metal down by 0.84% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 0.82%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.34% and ITC up by 0.28%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.38%, HDFC Bank down by 2.31%, SBI down by 1.92%, Axis Bank down by 1.76% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has said that India needs to gear up to manage the exchange rate volatility as the country progresses on the path of internationalisation of rupee and freer capital account convertibility. He also said that internationalisation of rupee has its own benefits as well as challenges and risks which the country and the Reserve Bank of India will have to deal with.

He said as the economy grows and becomes more developed, the scope of participation in foreign exchange markets would change. He mentioned ‘With the increasing integration of the economy with the rest of the world, more and more entities are likely to, directly or indirectly, get exposed to foreign exchange risks. There are likely to be demands for permitting hedging of economic exposures.’

Moreover, he said a whole new market with a new set of market participants has opened up, with banks in India being allowed to participate in the offshore non-deliverable market for rupee derivatives in a bid to integrate markets. This is a part of the overall effort towards greater convertibility of rupee.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17407.20, down by 182.40 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 17324.35 and 17451.50. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 0.84%, Britannia Industries up by 0.77%, ITC up by 0.40%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.35% and Divi's Lab up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.57%, HDFC down by 2.28%, HDFC Bank down by 2.13%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.90% and SBI down by 1.84% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Taiwan Weighted lost 249.64 points or 1.58% to 15,521.02, Hang Seng declined 490.9 points or 2.53% to 19,434.84, Shanghai Composite weakened 37.71 points or 1.16% to 3,238.38, KOSPI dropped 28.85 points or 1.19% to 2,390.24, Jakarta Composite plunged 47.58 points or 0.7% to 6,752.22, Straits Times fell 32.24 points or 1% to 3,182.27 and Nikkei 225 slipped 454.2 points or 1.59% to 28,168.95.