Benchmarks erase losses to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial losses to trade flat in morning deals, ahead of weekly F&O expiry. Traders took some support with the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) have turn net buyers for first time in last 10 straight sessions, buying shares worth Rs 61.72 crore on March 22. Meanwhile, industry body PHDCCI has approached the government seeking reintroduction of the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme to facilitate technology upgradation of micro and small enterprises. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed following the negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders reacted to the US Fed's decision to raise interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled another rate hike despite recent turmoil in the banking industry.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58205.77, down by 8.82 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 57838.85 and 58253.70. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.04%, Utilities up by 1.02%, Auto up by 0.43%, Telecom up by 0.37% and Industrials up by 0.35%, while IT down by 0.70%, TECK down by 0.51%, PSU down by 0.39% and Realty down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.36%, Tata Motors up by 1.18%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.10%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.99% and Axis Bank up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.47%, HCL Technologies down by 1.04%, Wipro down by 0.90%, Infosys down by 0.81% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Icra in its latest report has said that it revised its outlook for domestic steel demand to 7-8 per cent for the next fiscal. Earlier, it had estimated the demand to grow in the range of 6-7 per cent. It mentioned with the central government's capex outlay in FY2024, Icra has revised upwards its steel consumption growth estimate for FY24 to 7-8 per cent. In 2023-24, the capital expenditure is budgeted at Rs 10 lakh crore which will constitute 3.3 per cent of GDP.

In the ongoing fiscal also, the domestic steel consumption growth has remained strong supported by the government's push for infrastructure-led economic growth. The consumption of finished steel in India was 107.20 million tonne during April-February of FY23.

Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President & Group Head - Corporate Sector Ratings at ICRA, said ‘With steel consumption expected to grow in high-single digits next year, we expect the industry's capacity utilisation rate to improve to around 80 per cent in FY2024, despite the commissioning of some new expansion projects.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17168.35, up by 16.45 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17045.30 and 17169.70. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.49%, Hindalco up by 1.39%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.30%, Tata Motors up by 1.21% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.43%, HCL Technologies down by 1.08%, Infosys down by 0.80%, Wipro down by 0.76% and Reliance Industries down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 77.61 points or 0.49% to 15,838.07, Hang Seng advanced 152.32 points or 0.77% to 19,743.75 and KOSPI increased 4.4 points or 0.18% to 2,421.36. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 6.72 points or 0.21% to 3,214.26, Nikkei 225 slipped 34.02 points or 0.12% to 27,432.59 and Shanghai Composite weakened 0.49 points or 0.02% to 3,265.26.