Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, amid positive sentiment in global markets. Traders took a note of rating agency Crisil’s statement that the India’s economy is likely to log in 6 per cent growth next fiscal, in line with consensus estimates, driven by an increased capex by the private sector. It added the private sector capex is expected to deliver double-digit revenue growth for the second year on the trot. The economy is projected to grow 7 per cent this fiscal. Crisil further said it expects the corporate revenue to log in double-digit rise again next fiscal. However, gains remain capped amid continued foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold shares worth Rs 282.06 crore on March 17, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher after Credit Suisse secured a $54 billion lifeline and a consortium of banks pledged to aid First Republic Bank with a $30bn deposit, helping ease worries about the contagion from the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown. Back home, stocks related to pharma sector remained in watch as rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that domestic pharmaceutical industry is expected to witness a revenue growth of 6-8 per cent in the next fiscal (FY24). Despite several disruptive events, the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) witnessed a healthy CAGR of 10.9 per cent between FY2012 and FY2022.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57895.35, up by 260.51 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 57825.35 and 58178.94. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.66%, while Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.87%, Capital Goods up by 1.69%, Industrials up by 1.52%, Metal up by 1.40% and IT up by 1.38%, while FMCG down by 0.22% and Telecom down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.33%, Infosys up by 2.19%, Nestle up by 2.01% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.56%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.72%, Indusind Bank down by 0.57%, TCS down by 0.34% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said the global uncertainty has been rising after the recent developments in the United States and governments, businesses and individuals should keep 'margins of safety' in fiscal, corporate and savings account planning. Nageswaran said the global growth estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) given in January looks outdated and countries will have to watch what the developments in the US over the last week would do to confidence, bank. Two banks in America have gone belly up over the last week.

Signature Bank, New York, which lent mostly to crypto industry was shut down by the regulators after there was a run on their deposits. Besides, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week left many startups, tech companies, entrepreneurs and VC funds nervous and jittery. SVB, the 16th largest bank in the United States, was closed on Friday last by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation which later appointed the FDIC as its receiver.

He said uncertainty has been on a rising trend and has gone up a few notches in the last week and this is something which countries need to live with, not only this year but for the next year and beyond. He stated ‘The important thing to remember is that when you are facing uncertain times, the key thing to do is to make sure that we have margins of safety in our operations, whether it is for corporates or for investors. The only guidance one can think of is to allow for margins of safety, whether it is in fiscal planning, corporate planning or household balance sheet or savings account planning.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17067.45, up by 81.85 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 17049.20 and 17145.80. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.43%, Infosys up by 2.37%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.35%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.26% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.05%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.04%, BPCL down by 1.24%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.70%, Indusind Bank down by 0.65% and Eicher Motors down by 0.48% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 210.72 points or 1.37% to 15,431.84, Hang Seng advanced 355.96 points or 1.82% to 19,559.87, Shanghai Composite strengthened 51.12 points or 1.56% to 3,278.01, KOSPI increased 15.82 points or 0.66% to 2,393.73, Jakarta Composite gained 89.99 points or 1.35% to 6,655.72, Straits Times rose 27.21 points or 0.85% to 3,182.75 and Nikkei 225 surged 304.75 points or 1.12% to 27,315.36.