Markets trim some losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets recovered some of their losses but continued to trade in red during later afternoon session. Some recovery came in markets on account of buying in Nestle and SBI stocks. Some support also came as India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) declined further to 1.34% (Provisional) for the month of March 2023 as against 3.85% recorded in February 2023, due to fall in prices of non-food articles, mineral oils and electricity. Traders were also getting relief, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Indian economy will stay on course and is likely to grow at 7 per cent in 2022-23. However, rising concerns about a potential recession in the U.S. later this year, and uncertainty about interest rate hikes by the Fed hurt sentiment. On the sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in PSU, FMCG, Realty, Oil & Gas and Energy, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK, Capital Goods, Telecom and Healthcare.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher ahead of China’s gross domestic product report on Tuesday. Street expects to see a 4% rise year-on-year for the first quarter of 2023, higher than the final quarter of last year. That would mark the biggest rise in nearly a year. European markets were trading higher amid investors look ahead to a major earnings week on Wall Street that will shed more light on the state of the U.S. economy. Back home, in the stock specific development, Nestle India surged ahead of its record date of Friday, April 21 for a dividend of Rs 102 per share.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59907.41, down by 523.59 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 59442.47 and 60407.86. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, while Small cap index up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.08%, FMCG up by 1.07%, Realty up by 0.83%, Oil & Gas up by 0.80% and Energy up by 0.73%, while IT down by 5.07%, TECK down by 4.81%, Capital Goods down by 0.79%, Telecom down by 0.72% and Healthcare down by 0.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 4.52%, Power Grid up by 2.57%, SBI up by 1.75%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.39% and ITC up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 9.95%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.13%, HCL down by 2.80%, Wipro down by 2.05% and Larsen & Toubro down by 2.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile,  India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) declined further to 1.34% (Provisional) for the month of March 2023 as against 3.85% recorded in February 2023, due to fall in prices of non-food articles, mineral oils and electricity. The wholesale inflation was 4.73% in January 2023.

The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased 1.16% to 175.0 (provisional) in March 2023 from 173.0 (provisional) for the month of February 2023. Prices of minerals, crude petroleum & natural gas and food articles increased in March 2023 as compared to February 2023, while prices of non-food articles declined in March 2023 as compared to February 2023.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined 1.26% to 156.8 (provisional) in March 2023 from 158.8 (provisional) for the month of February 2023. Prices of coal increased in March 2023 as compared to February 2023, while prices of mineral oils and electricity declined in March 2023 as compared to February 2023.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, declined 0.28% to 141.2 (provisional) in March 2023 from 141.6 (provisional) for the month of February 2023. Meanwhile, for the month of January 2023 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 150.7 and 4.80% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17703.20, down by 124.80 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 17574.05 and 17863.00. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 4.82%, Power Grid up by 2.42%, SBI up by 1.83%, Britannia up by 1.68% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.56%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 9.90%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.13%, HCL down by 2.88%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.07% and Wipro down by 2.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 34.12 points or 0.21% to 15,963.55, Hang Seng advanced 343.64 points or 1.68% to 20,782.45, Shanghai Composite strengthened 47.46 points or 1.4% to 3,385.61, KOSPI increased 4.42 points or 0.17% to 2,575.91, Straits Times rose 8.38 points or 0.25% to 3,311.04 and Nikkei 225 surged 21.31 points or 0.07% to 28,514.78. However, Jakarta Composite plunged 40.06 points or 0.59% to 6,778.51.

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 rose 34.37 points or 0.44% to 7,906.55, Germany’s DAX gained 35.32 points or 0.23% to 15,844.82 and France’s CAC was up by 9.56 points or 0.12% to 7,528.84.