Benchmarks extend losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in morning deals, on weak signals from Asian markets, coupled with a decline in IT and Oil & Gas stocks. Traders remained cautious with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,051.09 crore on March 18. Traders overlooked the Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh revealed that the Government of India’s plans to introduce a dedicated policy aimed at fostering deep-tech startups. Singh disclosed that the government is currently in the advanced stages of crafting a specialized policy framework specifically tailored to support deep-tech startups. On the sectoral front, insurance industry stocks remained in watch as Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi’s statement that the insurance sector has witnessed an influx of Rs 53,900 crore in foreign direct investment (FDI) from December 2014 to January 2024. This comes against the backdrop of the liberalisation of overseas capital flow norms by the government. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed amid persistent anxiety over an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting. Besides, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from a focus of reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72244.80, down by 503.62 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 72068.37 and 72490.09. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.75%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 1.70%, Oil & Gas down by 1.40%, Capital Goods down by 1.26%, FMCG down by 1.26% and TECK down by 1.25%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 0.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.74%, ICICI Bank up by 0.37% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.11%. On the flip side, TCS down by 3.05%, Nestle down by 2.85%, Indusind Bank down by 1.81%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.64% and Wipro down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the revenue growth of the Indian IT services industry is expected to improve mildly from 2 per cent in the nine months of the current fiscal year but remain modest at 3-5 per cent in FY2025. Despite expectations of modest revenue growth, it maintained its stable outlook on the Indian IT services industry, ‘led by a well-established business position, expectations of healthy earnings and cash flow generation, and strong balance sheets of the industry players.’

It expects a likely pick-up in the growth momentum once the macroeconomic headwinds subside. It also expects hiring to remain muted in the near term with gradual pick-up until the growth momentum improves.

Deepak Jotwani, Assistant Vice President and Sector Head, ICRA, said the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and telecom segments have contracted more than the others. Nonetheless, critical spending and cost optimisation deals continue to gain traction, supporting the growth prospects for the Indian IT services companies to some extent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21879.50, down by 176.20 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 21833.25 and 21978.30. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 0.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.83%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.82%, ICICI Bank up by 0.39% and Hindalco up by 0.29%. On the flip side, TCS down by 3.19%, BPCL down by 3.14%, Nestle down by 2.73%, Cipla down by 2.72% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.87% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 207.13 points or 0.52% to 39,947.57, Taiwan Weighted added 33.89 points or 0.17% to 19,913.74, Straits Times rose 1.24 points or 0.04% to 3,173.17 and Jakarta Composite gained 41.68 points or 0.57% to 7,344.13.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 11.9 points or 0.39% to 3,073.03, Hang Seng declined 186.22 points or 1.13% to 16,550.90 and KOSPI dropped 30.94 points or 1.15% to 2,654.90.