Domestic indices trade slightly lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Tuesday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as well as weakness in Asian counterparts, as traders largely stayed on the sidelines ahead of US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee later in the day and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday for clues about the outlook for interest rates. The highly anticipated US employment report for February also could affect the outlook for interest rates. Moreover, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed with a services PMI score of 52.9.

Domestic indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- are trading slightly lower in early deals due to profit booking after four consecutive session of gains. Investors are also eyeing HSBC Services PMI data to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Foreign fund outflows dented Sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 564.06 crore on March 4, provisional data from the NSE showed. However, losses were limited as some support came in with a private report that Inflation may decline for two years in a row. As per the report, inflation is likely to fall to 4.3 per cent in the financial year 2024-25 from 5.4 per cent in the financial year 2023-24. 

On the sectoral front, sugar industry stocks are in limelight as industry body ISMA said the country's sugar production declined 1.19 per cent to 25.53 million tonne so far in the ongoing 2023-24 marketing year. In stock specific development, Tata Motors soared and crossed Rs 1,000-mark, leading gains among largecaps, on announcing plan to demerge and separately list its CV and PV businesses. Shares of Exicom Tele-Systems listed at Rs 265 apiece on the NSE, a premium of 86.62% over their IPO price of Rs 142 apiece.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73675.72, down by 196.57 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 73574.32 and 73788.84. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.13%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.61%, PSU up by 0.29% and Basic Materials up by 0.19%, while IT down by 0.98%, TECK down by 0.70%, Capital Goods down by 0.45%, Industrials down by 0.37% and FMCG down by 0.33% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 7.27%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.18%, SBI up by 0.96%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.53% and NTPC up by 0.33%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.12%, Infosys down by 1.10%, TCS down by 1.04%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.89% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the National Statistical Office (NSO) in its latest employment-unemployment indicators report has showed that unemployment rate in India declined to 3.1 per cent in the calendar year 2023 (CY23) from 3.6 per cent in CY22 and 4.2 per cent in CY21, reflecting continued improvement in the labour markets. 

During the CY23, the unemployment rate in both rural and urban areas declined to 2.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, from 2.8 per cent and 5.9 per cent in CY22. The unemployment rate for rural women at 1.9 per cent was lower than for rural men at 2.7 per cent in CY23, whereas in urban areas, the rate was higher for women at 7.5 per cent compared to men at 4.4 per cent.

The latest survey also showed that the labour force participation rate (LFPR), which defines the share of people either working or actively seeking work in the population, increased significantly to 59.8 per cent in CY23from 56.1 per cent in CY22 at the national level. The rural LFPR stood at 63.4 per cent in 2023, significantly up from 58.5 per cent in CY22, whereas its urban equivalent rose to 51.4 per cent from 50 per cent in the corresponding period.

Besides, the report also showed that the ratio of women workers to men working as legislators, senior officials, and managers stood at 14.4 per cent in 2023, whereas the ratio of women workers to men working as professionals and technical workers stood at 49.4 per cent during the year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22365.25, down by 40.35 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 22319.55 and 22406.55. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 7.54%, UPL up by 2.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.90%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.63% and SBI up by 1.11%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.24%, Infosys down by 1.16%, TCS down by 0.98%, LTIMindtree down by 0.86% and Reliance Industries down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; KOSPI lost 11.31 points or 0.42% to 2,662.96, Jakarta Composite fell 13.51 points or 19% to 7,263.24, Hang Seng slipped 323.20 points or 1.95% to 16,272.77 and Straits Times was down by 1.15 points or 0.08% to 1,361.44. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted jumped 146.17 points or 0.76% to 19,451.48, Nikkei 225 surged 27.37 points or 0.07% to 40,136.60 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.89 points or 0.26% to 3,047.20.