Sensex, Nifty trade higher in volatile session

In a highly volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding marginal gains, supported by buying at IT and TECK counters. Traders were getting relief as Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that retail food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) brought out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has declined from 8.60 percent in September 2022 to 5.95 per cent in February 2023. Some support came after Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran indicated that with global crude oil prices on the slide, India’s current account deficit (CAD), too, will drop in the current fiscal year (2022-23, or FY23) and the next (2023-24, or FY24), with the external situation being quite stable.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after Singapore's industrial production declined for the fifth straight month in February, largely due to a slump in bio-medical manufacturing and chemical output. Industrial production fell 8.9 percent year-on-year in February, which was worse than the 3.1 percent fall in January. Excluding bio-medical manufacturing, industrial production slid 4.9 percent annually in February, after a 7.1 percent fall in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58034.05, up by 108.77 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 57677.05 and 58066.40. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.36%, while Small cap index was down by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.88%, TECK up by 0.72%, Bankex up by 0.34%, FMCG up by 0.14% and Auto up by 0.13%, while Metal down by 1.13%, Realty down by 0.79%, Energy down by 0.43%, Telecom down by 0.40% and Consumer Durables down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.52%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.05%, TCS up by 1.05%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.98% and HDFC Bank up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.05%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.74%, Tata Steel down by 1.34%, HCL Technologies down by 0.98% and Reliance Industries down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a Parliamentary panel has expressed concern about the financial health of General Public Sector Insurance Companies as despite measures such as focusing on pursuing profitable business including motor and health portfolio, improving risk management practices, monetising the commercial and residential assets not in use, modernising and upgrading IT systems, capital infusion etc., the desired results do not seem to be appearing.

It is concerned that with the tweaks in the slabs and rates in the New Tax Regime, there might be a decline in life insurance penetration in the country as a major chunk of the population invests in life insurance products as tax saving instruments, which is also the most important source of loanable/investment fund in the economy.

The Committee also urged that a comprehensive study be undertaken to evaluate the impact of opening up of the insurance sector, so that any changes, if needed, can be made to the act governing the Insurance sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17095.75, up by 18.85 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 16994.90 and 17109.45. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.
 
The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 1.52%, Infosys up by 1.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.08%, TCS up by 1.07% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.68%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.02%, Hindalco down by 2.02%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.71% and Tata Steel down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 162.79 points or 0.81% to 19,886.85, Nikkei 225 slipped 34.36 points or 0.13% to 27,385.25, Shanghai Composite weakened 22.26 points or 0.68% to 3,264.39, KOSPI dropped 9.52 points or 0.39% to 2,414.96 and Straits Times fell 2.79 points or 0.09% to 3,216.21, while Taiwan Weighted added 50.75 points or 0.32% to 15,914.70 and Jakarta Composite gained 62.27 points or 0.93% to 6,753.88.