Benchmarks continue to trade with marginal losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade with marginal losses in morning deals, due to losses in IT, TECK and Oil & Gas stocks. Traders remained cautious as the UN Trade and Development Conference (UNCTAD), in its latest Trade and Development Report Update, has said that India's economic growth is projected to decelerate to 6 per cent in 2023 from 6.6 per cent in 2022. It expects global growth in 2023 to drop to 2.1 per cent, compared to the 2.2 per cent projected in September 2022, assuming the financial fallout from higher interest rates is contained to the bank runs and bailouts of the first quarter. However, losses remain capped as traders took some support with Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fiscal Affairs Department stating that India is expected to have a stable debt-to-GDP ratio going forward and recommended rationalization and simplification of Goods and Services Tax (GST). On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red amid concerns that moderating inflation in the U.S. won't be enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from hiking rates again in May.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60345.06, down by 47.71 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 60228.11 and 60423.98. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.29%, while Small cap index up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.60%, FMCG up by 0.60%, Bankex up by 0.36%, Consumer Durables up by 0.28% and Healthcare up by 0.19%, while IT down by 1.52%, TECK down by 1.45%, Oil & Gas down by 0.47%, Metal down by 0.38% and Capital Goods down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.17%, Nestle up by 1.08%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.73%, Reliance Industries up by 0.60% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.99%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.83%, HCL Technologies down by 1.77%, TCS down by 1.36% and Indusind Bank down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with good performance of the power, mining and manufacturing sectors, India’s factory output growth measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose marginally to 5.6 per cent in February 2023 from 5.5 per cent in January 2023. There was an improvement on an annual as well as sequential basis. The IIP stood at 1.2 per cent in February 2022. For the month of February 2023, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 138.7. For the first 11 months of fiscal 2022-23 (April-February), the growth in IIP works out to be 5.5 per cent, down from 12.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

As per the IIP data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector’s output grew 5.3 per cent in February 2023 from 0.2 per cent a year ago. Mining output growth remained flat at 4.6 per cent during the month under review compared to the year-ago period. Power generation surged 8.2 per cent in February 2023 against 4.5 per cent. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of February 2023 stood at 129.0, 136.8 and 174.0 respectively.

As per use-based classification, the capital goods segment recorded a growth of 10.5 per cent in February against a growth of 1.3 per cent a year ago. Consumer durables output during the month declined by 4 per cent against a contraction of 9.7 per cent a year ago. Consumer non-durable goods output expanded by 12.1 per cent against a decline of 6.8 per cent earlier. Infrastructure/construction goods posted a growth of 7.9 per cent compared to an 8.6 per cent expansion in the same period a year ago.

The data also showed that the output of primary goods logged 6.8 per cent growth in the month against 4.6 per cent in the year-ago period. The intermediate goods output in February contracted by 0.3 per cent compared to a growth of 4.1 per cent during the corresponding month last year. Besides, the indices stood at 139.7 for Primary Goods, 104.4 for Capital Goods, 143.2 for Intermediate Goods and 164.0 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of February 2023. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stood at 108.4 and 154.3 respectively for the month of February 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17804.75, down by 7.65 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 17767.95 and 17827.85. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 3.58%, Eicher Motors up by 2.08%, Britannia Industries up by 1.65%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.36% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.98%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.93%, HCL Technologies down by 1.77%, BPCL down by 1.76% and TCS down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 98.21 points or 0.62% to 15,834.76, Hang Seng declined 99.87 points or 0.49% to 20,209.99, Jakarta Composite plunged 26.91 points or 0.4% to 6,772.05 and Straits Times fell 0.36 points or 0.01% to 3,285.76.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.65 points or 0.05% to 3,328.83, KOSPI increased 2.45 points or 0.1% to 2,553.09 and Nikkei 225 surged 74.13 points or 0.26% to 28,156.83.