Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in red in morning deals, as sentiment remains weak after a lacklustre start to the quarterly earnings season and amid tepid global cues. Traders remained cautious with a private report that deal activities declined 35 per cent to $9.7 billion across 332 transactions in the first quarter of 2023 due to an overall decline in deal activities as the fear of a global recession has gained more traction amid the continuing war on Ukraine. Of the total deals, M&As constituted more than half, still lower by 21 per cent at $4.4 billion involving 76 deals, down 56 per cent during the March quarter. However, losses remain capped as traders took some support with a private report stating that India last year got 20 per cent of the total private equity and venture capital (PE-VC) investments in the Asia Pacific, making the country a bright spot amid decelerating capital flow in the region. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as traders shifted focus from U.S. banking stress to expectations for an imminent peak in the Federal Reserve's interest rate cycle.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59631.77, down by 95.24 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 59558.13 and 59745.89. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.37%, Industrials up by 0.28%, Auto up by 0.27%, Consumer Durables up by 0.26% and Healthcare up

by 0.26%, while IT down by 1.03%, TECK down by 0.99%, Power down by 0.64%, Utilities down by 0.63% and Telecom down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.63%, Axis Bank up by 0.60%, HDFC up by 0.47% and Reliance Industries up by 0.38%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.61%, HCL Technologies down by 1.42%, Asian Paints down by 1.08%, Wipro down by 0.80% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has said that healthy investments, innovation and integration with value chains will help India's textiles and apparel sector to register healthy growth in manufacturing and exports. Secretary general of AEPC Mithileshwar Thakur said the focus should be on building scale, skill and technology besides diversification of products basket and strengthening of Brand India.

He stated ‘My mantra for the exponential growth of the Indian Textiles and Apparel sector is investment, innovation and integration of the value chain. The idea is to align the industry's approach with the government's vision to make India a favoured textiles destination.’

AEPC said the apparel exports increased by 1.1 per cent to $16.20 billion in 2022-23 from $16.02 billion in 2021-22. It added India ramped up its global apparel exports in 2022-23 despite the Russia-Ukraine war, sluggish demand for apparel in major garment importing countries, stiff competition by other major apparel manufacturing countries and volatility in raw material prices at the beginning of the year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17637.80, down by 22.35 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17611.80 and 17662.65. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 1.72%, JSW Steel up by 1.45%, Divi's Lab up by 1.39%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.32% and Hindalco up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.52%, HCL Technologies down by 1.43%, Asian Paints down by 0.97%, Tata Consumer Product down by 0.91% and Wipro down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 92.36 points or 0.58% to 15,777.08, Hang Seng declined 100.77 points or 0.49% to 20,549.74, Shanghai Composite weakened 7.28 points or 0.21% to 3,386.05 and Nikkei 225 slipped 74.01 points or 0.26% to 28,584.82.

On the flip side, KOSPI increased 8.05 points or 0.31% to 2,579.14 and Straits Times rose 7.12 points or 0.22% to 3,316.68.