Sensex, Nifty trade lower with marginal cut in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Monday following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves and look ahead to the U.S. central bank's monetary policy meeting this week. While the US Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates. Sensex and Nifty are trading lower with marginal cut in early deals. Some cautiousness came in as former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said India's latest GDP numbers are 'absolutely mystifying' and difficult to comprehend. Traders took note of report that India recorded the highest monthly exports during the fiscal in February, registering an 11.9 per cent growth to $41.4 billion, mainly driven by increased shipments of engineering goods, electronic items and pharma products. The trade deficit during February worked out to $18.7 billion, up from $16.57 billion in the year-ago month, as gold imports surged significantly. Merchandise imports were valued at $60.11 billion, up 12.16 per cent compared to $53.58 per cent in February 2023. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher lifted by a rally in Japan, as investors awaited policy decisions from Japan. China’s mainland equities also rose as the nation reported better-than-expected factory output and fixed-asset investment growth. Back home, Adani group stocks are under pressure with a private report that the U.S. government had widened its investigation of the conglomerate over suspicions of bribery.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72509.00, down by 134.43 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 72455.94 and 72769.79. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.18%, while Small cap index was down by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.65%, Auto up by 0.41%, Capital Goods up by 0.12%, Healthcare up by 0.09% and PSU up by 0.02%, while Realty down by 0.87%, Consumer Durables down by 0.73%, Power down by 0.69%, IT down by 0.53% and FMCG down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.06%, Tata Steel up by 1.59%, JSW Steel up by 1.22%, Axis Bank up by 0.71% and Tata Motors up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.56%, Power Grid down by 1.45%, Titan Company down by 1.39%, Nestle down by 1.13% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India currently needs economic freedom to achieve developed nation status by 2047 and assured that the country would move to the third spot in world economy from the current fifth position in the near future. Criticising those who compared India with China, Sitharaman said that certain things could not be replicated from them. She said ‘India should attain self-sufficiency on economic matters. It should become an economic power. The country has come from 10th position to 5th in global rankings and a few years down the line we will achieve the third spot’.

Sitharaman said digital technology in India does not refer to the payment mechanism, but it was also about the revolution during the COVID-19 pandemic when digital certificates on vaccination status were issued through mobile phones. She said ‘We have been using digital in every section, not only for making payments, but also in education and healthcare. Like this many developmental programmes have been launched in India in the last 10 years’. She added women in rural areas were tapping digital technology by operating drones for development of their farm lands. 

Referring to people talking about how China has progressed and comparisons with India, she recalled that the two countries were at the same level 30 years ago. She said ‘They have progressed because of various reasons which cannot be followed here. For example, (in China) there is no democracy at all. But we have civil liberty, freedom of speech is here and we have values in our system. And to become a developed nation, we should think positively’. Observing that India was a rich country about 400 years ago, she said that even today there are references to Indian connections in Indonesia and other East Asian countries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21954.70, down by 68.65 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 21935.95 and 22045.30. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.03%, Tata Steel up by 1.59%, JSW Steel up by 1.35%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.96% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 3.88%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.39%, UPL down by 2.53%, Power Grid down by 1.77% and Asian Paints down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 880.82 points or 2.28% to 39,588.46, Taiwan Weighted rose 108.34 points or 0.55% to 19,790.84, Jakarta Composite gained 15.81 points or 0.22% to 7,343.86, KOSPI increased 15.53 points or 0.58% to 2,682.37, Shanghai Composite added 15.03 points or 0.49% to 3,069.67 and Straits Times was up by 0.63 points or 0.02% to 3,173.59, while Hang Seng was down by 0.49 points or 0% to 16,720.40.