Sensex, Nifty trade near day’s high points

Indian equity benchmarks added gains in early afternoon deals to trade near their intraday high points, aided by buying at Healthcare and Metal counters. Traders got some relief, as S&P Global Ratings kept its forecast for India's economic growth unchanged at 6 per cent in the fiscal year starting April 1, before rising to 6.9 per cent in the following year. In the quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific, S&P saw inflation rate easing to 5 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal, from 6.8 per cent in the current financial year. However, there was some anxiety among traders, as the government proposed hiking the securities transaction tax on Futures & Options (F&O) contracts, a move that will increase the trading costs in the derivatives segment as well as help in curbing excessive trades.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the decline in China's industrial profits deepened in the first two months of 2023 on weaker demand and falling prices. Industrial profits plunged 22.9 percent on a yearly basis in January to February period. The decrease followed a 4.0 percent contraction in the full year of 2022. The Data suggested that factories are yet to recover from the pandemic-driven downturn despite the removal of restrictions at the end of 2022.

Back home, textile industry stocks were in focus, as the government extended export benefits under RoDTEP scheme to 18 items related to textiles sector, including saari and lungi, with a view to boost shipments of these goods. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said that benefits under the duty refund scheme -- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) -- will be given to exports made from March 23.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57858.36, up by 331.26 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 57415.02 and 57915.26. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.11%, Metal up by 0.96%, TECK up by 0.86%, IT up by 0.72% and Energy up by 0.53%, while Utilities down by 1.34%, Power down by 1.07%, Realty down by 0.79%, Industrials down by 0.34% and Auto down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.77%, Sun Pharma up by 1.58%, HCL Technologies up by 1.28%, ITC up by 1.08% and Infosys up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.60%, ICICI Bank down by 0.39%, Axis Bank down by 0.32% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, leading planters body, Indian Tea Association (ITA) has said that climate change is threatening the industry globally which is resulting in lower yields and rise in production costs. It said climate change is also threatening the long-term viability of tea industry, which is also causing increasing pest infestations making pesticide residue management surfacing as a major challenge. To mitigate this, it said that the industry needs to adopt a multi-faceted to address the climate change issue by way of sustainable farming practices and reduction in carbon footprint.

In this context, the association maintained the industry involving all the stakeholders to invest in research to come out with mitigating solutions. It said there has also been a decline in rainfall and increase in temperature in the tea cultivating regions for the last several years. According to the association, future projections indicate a substantial reduction in suitability in tea cultivation in areas where the crop is grown.

The other major area where work is needed to be done by the industry is that optimization in the use of chemical fertilisers and greater use of renewable energy. In the latest data compiled by Tea Board, production in January 2023 in the country was 13.43 million kilogramme as against 16.22 million kilogramme in the same month of last calendar year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17043.85, up by 98.80 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 16918.55 and 17061.50. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 1.76%, Hindalco up by 1.66%, ONGC up by 1.64%, Sun Pharma up by 1.62% and Apollo Hospital up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone by 1.47%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.84%, Tata Motors down by 0.82%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.72% and ICICI Bank down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 197.07 points or 0.99% to 19,718.61, Taiwan Weighted lost 84.39 points or 0.53% to 15,830.31, Jakarta Composite plunged 37.64 points or 0.56% to 6,724.61, Shanghai Composite weakened 15.51 points or 0.47% to 3,250.14 and KOSPI dropped 5.74 points or 0.24% to 2,409.22, while Straits Times rose 31.09 points or 0.97% to 3,243.73 and Nikkei 225 surged 91.62 points or 0.33% to 27,476.87.