Sensex, Nifty stage recovery in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks managed to stage recovery in early afternoon session, despite weak cues from other Asian markets. Heavy buying at Metal and Healthcare counters helped key indices to trim most of their losses. Traders got encouragement, after Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) said the healthy growth trend will continue and services exports are expected to reach up to $400 billion this fiscal, buoyed by a significant jump in exports during 2022-23.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Japan's industrial production expanded more than initially estimated in February. The revised data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that industrial production rose by a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent month-on-month in February, reversing a 5.3 percent decrease in January. In the flash report, the rate of increase was 4.5 percent.

Back home, on the sectoral front, textile stocks were in focus, as the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) 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.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59697.49, down by 29.52 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 59558.13 and 59745.89. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.21%, Healthcare up by 0.62%, Auto up by 0.41%, Industrials up by 0.28% and Energy up by 0.27%, while IT down by 1.02%, TECK down by 0.94%, Power down by 0.64%, Utilities down by 0.62% and Bankex down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.30%, HDFC up by 0.86%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.83%, Reliance Industries up by 0.69% and ITC up by 0.59%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.70%, Infosys down by 1.58%, Indusind Bank down by 1.47%, NTPC down by 1.09% and Asian Paints down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, electric vehicle industry body the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) has appealed to a parliamentary panel to direct the government to release the pending subsidy of Rs 1,200 crore earmarked for the liquidity-hit sector. In a petition to the Parliamentary Standing Committees on Industry and Estimates, the SMEV stated that EV adoption is slowing down due to the financial stress being faced by the industry. It said the EV segment has been besieged by irritants designed to disturb the momentum of the FAME 2 scheme.

The industry body said now that the country is almost ready with the entire supply chain, the only thing holding up the sector is the Rs 1,200 crore worth of subsidies that have been withheld leading to a serious liquidity crisis in the industry. The need of the hour is for the government and the industry to work together to resolve issues and put India back on track to meet its electric mobility targets. In December 2022, Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey informed Parliament that the government is probing 12 automakers for alleged misappropriation of subsidies under the Rs 10,000 crore FAME scheme.

SMEV said the basis of the delay in the subsidies has been proven to be mischievous emails alleging non-adherence to policy norms as regards localisation targets. The charge of misappropriation has since been found to be misplaced because the monies due as subsidies have not been received as yet by OEMs while they have passed it on to customers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17652.80, down by 7.35 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 17611.80 and 17663.15. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Laboratories up by 2.23%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.80%, JSW Steel up by 1.40%, Tata Steel up by 1.25% and Coal India up by 0.90%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.80%, Infosys down by 1.52%, Indusind Bank down by 1.43%, NTPC down by 1.21% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 218.7 points or 1.06% to 20,431.81, Taiwan Weighted lost 98.97 points or 0.63% to 15,770.47, Nikkei 225 slipped 52.07 points or 0.18% to 28,606.76 and Shanghai Composite weakened 24.61 points or 0.73% to 3,368.72, while KOSPI increased 3.99 points or 0.15% to 2,575.08 and Straits Times rose 12.58 points or 0.38% to 3,322.14.