Markets trade flat with positive bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks started last trading session of the week on positive note but failed to hold the momentum and soon turned flat amid lackluster trade in Asian counterparts as investors fretted about an upcoming recession. Market participants were also worried about negotiations in Washington to raise the U.S. government debt ceiling. Domestic indices are struggling for direction and are trading flat with positive bias in early deals as crude oil prices continued to fall on demand worries, helping ease concerns around inflation and further interest-rate hikes. Some support came in as rating agency ICRA stated that India’s real GDP growth is likely to have risen to 4.9% YoY in Q4 FY2023 from the provisional 4.4% in Q3 FY2023, with the softening of commodity price pressures.

Though, broader indices were underperforming larger peers with marginal cuts. Upside remained capped as foreign fund outflows dented domestic indices. National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,169.32 crore on April 20. Some cautiousness came in as retail inflation for farm labour and rural workers rose marginally to 7.01 percent and 6.94 percent, respectively, in March compared to February this year, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items. In stock specific developments, HCL Technologies jumped after posting Q4 results in line with expectations. However, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were trading with modest gains ahead of their earnings results.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59681.40, up by 49.05 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 59538.79 and 59781.36. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.90%, IT up by 0.29%, Consumer Durables up by 0.27%, FMCG up by 0.25%, TECK up by 0.25%, while Realty down by 1.71%, Metal down by 0.98%, Capital Goods down by 0.39%, Auto down by 0.39%, Utilities down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.60%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.83%, Wipro up by 0.66%, Indusind Bank up by 0.58% and Asian Paints up by 0.43%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.24%, Tata Steel down by 1.11%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.96%, Tata Motors down by 0.65% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA in its latest report titled ‘Business Activity Monitor - An Index of High Frequency Economic Indicators’ has stated that India’s real GDP growth is likely to have risen to 4.9% YoY in Q4 FY2023 from the provisional 4.4% in Q3 FY2023, with the softening of commodity price pressures.

Notwithstanding higher volumes for most indicators, it said India’s GDP growth is likely to moderate to 6.9% in FY2023 from 9.1% in FY2022 given the margin compression in some industrial sectors owing to higher commodity prices, even as services sector displayed a robust performance in FY2023.

The agency said that growth in Q4 FY2023 will be driven by higher volumes of few indicators in ICRA’s set largely related to services sector, including, domestic airlines’ passenger traffic, petrol consumption, rail freight and ports cargo traffic, as well as GST e-way bills in Q4 FY2023. These trends, along with an expected rise in rabi output as well as softer commodity prices will support the growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17636.20, up by 11.75 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 17620.20 and 17663.20. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 1.62%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.61%, Divi's Lab up by 1.06%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.88% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.47%, JSW Steel down by 1.21%, Tata Steel down by 1.16%, Hindalco down by 1.05% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; Hang Seng declined 129.59 points or 0.64% to 20,267.38, Nikkei 225 slipped 80.39 points or 0.28% to 28,577.18, Shanghai Composite weakened 37.38 points or 1.12% to 3,329.65, Taiwan Weighted lost 26.84 points or 0.17% to 15,680.68, KOSPI fell 18.56 points or 0.72% to 2,544.55 and Straits Times was down by 6.08 points or 0.18% to 3,307.33.