Markets continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals amid weak trend in Asian markets. Traders remained cautious as Crisil Ratings stated that India’s real GDP growth will moderate to 6.8 per cent in FY2025 from the 7.6 per cent expected in the ongoing fiscal. Higher interest rates and demand being tempered by lower fiscal impulse will lead to the moderation of growth. Some concern also came as Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade data showed that foreign direct equity (FDI) investments contracted by 21 per cent Y-o-Y to $41.31 billion during the calendar year 2023. The sustained contraction in investment inflows comes against the backdrop of uncertainties and challenges in the global economy. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red even after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reassured investors that while inflation is not quite tamed rate cuts can be expected this year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74012.18, down by 73.81 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 73921.48 and 74245.17. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.11%, Basic Materials up by 1.04%, Industrials up by 0.94%, Capital Goods up by 0.86% and Healthcare up by 0.62%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.59%, Energy down by 0.58%, Auto down by 0.38%, Bankex down by 0.08% and FMCG down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 2.77%, Tata Steel up by 2.44%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.60%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.33% and Sun Pharma up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.87%, Reliance Industries down by 0.90%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.83%, ITC down by 0.74% and Titan Company down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings has said India’s real GDP growth will moderate to 6.8 per cent in FY2025 from the 7.6 per cent expected in the ongoing fiscal. Higher interest rates and demand being tempered by lower fiscal impulse will lead to the moderation of growth.

However, it added that even with the moderated economic growth rate, India will continue to be the fastest-growing large economy. The government has affirmed to narrow the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent in FY25, and the elevated inflation or risks of price rise have prevented the RBI from cutting interest rates after hiking it by a cumulative 2.50 percentage points earlier. It said the nature of government spending will provide some support to the investment cycle and rural incomes.

Its chief economist Dharmakirti Joshi said that it expects the RBI to cut rates by 0.50-0.75 percentage point in FY25, but added that the cuts will be gradual with the earliest one not before June. The RBI will have to first shift the stance of the monetary policy to neutral from the current withdrawal of accommodation before cutting the rates, Joshi said, adding that it may look at shifting stance and cutting rates in the same policy review as well.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22460.55, down by 13.50 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 22430.00 and 22523.65. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 2.82%, Tata Steel up by 2.31%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.30%, UPL up by 1.75% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.00%, BPCL down by 1.80%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.39%, Reliance Industries down by 0.86% and Britannia Industries down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 366.62 points or 0.91% to 39,724.16, Hang Seng declined 77 points or 0.47% to 16,361.09, Straits Times fell 6.99 points or 0.22% to 3,129.15 and Shanghai Composite weakened 4.89 points or 0.16% to 3,035.04.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 272.89 points or 1.4% to 19,772.34, KOSPI increased 6.06 points or 0.23% to 2,647.55 and Jakarta Composite gained 37.5 points or 0.51% to 7,367.30.