Markets trade in red in early deals on Tuesday

Indian equity markets have opened in red and are trading lower in early deals on Tuesday amid mixed cues from the Asian peers. Foreign fund outflows weighed on the sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 754.59 crore on February 19, provisional data from the NSE showed. Cautiousness also came in as oil prices hold near 3-week highs on Middle East tensions. Traders ignored reports that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal exuded confidence that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates as inflation is under control. He said that the economic fundamentals of the country are strong and inflation is under check. On the sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, Power, Utilities, Basic Materials and Telecom, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Energy, Metal, FMCG and Bankex. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed following the mixed cues from European markets overnight. Chinese market is trading higher after China’s central bank has cut the benchmark five-year loan prime rate for the first time since June, while leaving the one-year tenure unchanged. The Chinese central bank kept its one-year loan prime rate - the peg for most household and corporate loans in China - unchanged at 3.45%. It cut the five-year loan rate - the peg for most mortgages - by 25 basis points to 3.95%. Back home, in the stock specific development, NBCC (India) surged after the company received three work orders worth Rs 369 crore from various clients. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72583.97, down by 124.19 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 72510.24 and 72727.87. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while Small cap index up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.69%, Power up by 0.42%, Utilities up by 0.40%, Basic Materials up by 0.36% and Telecom up by 0.35%, while Auto down by 1.12%, Energy down by 0.50%, Metal down by 0.35%, FMCG down by 0.20% and Bankex down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.25%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.54%, HDFC Bank up by 0.35% and Titan up by 0.33%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.13%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.12%, Tata Motors down by 0.93% and HCL down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has exuded confidence that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut interest rates as inflation is under control. The RBI has been maintaining the benchmark interest rate at an elevated level of 6.5 per cent since February 2023.

Goyal said that the economic fundamentals of the country are strong and inflation is under check. He said that the average inflation of 10 years in India is about 5 to 5.5 per cent. It was the best-performing decade and because of that, the interest rate came down dramatically and the central bank was strengthened and had the ability to bring down the interest rate.

He stated ‘Of-course in the last year and a half, post Ukraine-crisis, interest rates have again gone up by 250 basis points. But now that inflation is pretty much in control, I suspect we will soon see the reversal of the rate hikes starting in India, whether it happens in the next or the second monetary policy from now. I think it's only a matter of time.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22076.15, down by 46.10 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 22056.60 and 22111.35. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.02%, Grasim Industries up by 1.65%, ONGC up by 1.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.25% and LTIMindtree up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.04%, Coal India down by 2.92%, Eicher Motors down by 2.32%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.97% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 99.81 points or 0.53% to 18,735.61, Straits Times rose 1.72 points or 0.05% to 3,227.63, Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.67 points or 0.02% to 2,911.21 and Jakarta Composite gained 41.75 points or 0.57% to 7,338.45, while Hang Seng declined 26.2 points or 0.16% to 16,129.41, Nikkei 225 slipped 124.09 points or 0.32% to 38,346.29 and KOSPI dropped 32.63 points or 1.23% to 2,647.63.