Benchmarks slip into red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial gains and slipped into red in morning deals, due to losses in IT, Realty and Power stocks. Traders were cautious as India’s CPI inflation in February remained above RBI’s tolerance range indicating more rate hikes in future. India's consumer price inflation (CPI)-based inflation eased marginally to 6.44 per cent in February, compared to 6.52 per cent in January. As per a private report, the Reserve Bank is likely to hike benchmark lending rates by 25 basis points in its bi-monthly policy next month to bring down inflation within the central bank’s comfort zone. Some concern also came as the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,546.86 crore on March 13.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors weighed the SVB fallout concerns against falling oil prices and expectations that the Federal Reserve will be less aggressive in raising rates. Back home, stocks related to aviation sector remained in focus as rating agency ICRA said that domestic air passenger traffic is projected to have touched around 1.19 crore in February, only about 4 per cent lower compared to pre-Covid levels.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58064.98, down by 172.87 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 57987.33 and 58490.98. There were 11 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.71%, while Small cap index was down by 0.96%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Metal up by 0.07%, while IT down by 1.31%, Realty down by 1.30%, Power down by 1.13%, Utilities down by 0.99% and TECK down by 0.86% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 0.80%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.76%, Titan Company up by 0.74%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.53% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.92%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.08%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.62% and HCL Technologies down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the country's goods and services exports are marching ahead to cross $750 billion in the current financial year (FY23) and talks for expanding rupee trade with certain countries are at an advanced stage. He said that last year the exports reached an all time high of $676 billion. He added, earlier, exports used to hover at around $500 billion every year.

India's merchandise exports during April-January this fiscal have increased to $369.25 billion as against $340.28 billion in the same period last year. Services exports during the 10-months period are estimated at $272 billion. Further, the minister made 10 recommendations to promote global trade. The suggestions include addressing tariff and non tariff barriers; a string and responsive international institutional framework; and collaboration in trade and technology.

He mentioned ‘When we talk of building resilient and global value chains, we must collectively address the challenges of tariff and non-tariff barriers. There are so many non-tariff barriers and as countries create them, others are tempted to follow suit. It is imperative that nations must address these in a mission mode.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17075.90, down by 78.40 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 17074.60 and 17224.65. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 1.10%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.89%, Titan Company up by 0.87%, Tata Steel up by 0.84% and BPCL up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 7.17%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.67%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.94%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.97% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 601.13 points or 2.16% to 27,231.83, Taiwan Weighted lost 163.1 points or 1.05% to 15,397.39, Hang Seng declined 360.31 points or 1.86% to 19,335.66, Shanghai Composite weakened 28.82 points or 0.89% to 3,239.88, KOSPI dropped 51.4 points or 2.13% to 2,359.20 and Jakarta Composite plunged 104.77 points or 1.57% to 6,682.19.

On the flip side, Straits Times rose 2.21 points or 0.07% to 3,134.58.