Benchmarks magnify opening losses in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start tracking weakness in Asian counterparts as hopes of a rate cut in the US faded. Soon, markets have extended their losses and are trading lower with cut of around half a percent each in early deals. Investors’ attention is now on the domestic earnings season, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) slated to report its numbers later in the day. Also, market participants avoided to take long positions ahead of the macro-economic data -- Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) -- to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Traders remained cautious with a private report that India's consumer price inflation likely eased to a five-month low of 4.91% in March but was still above the Reserve Bank of India's 4% medium-term target as food price rises persist.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading lower, despite the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for US Fed's interest rates a report showing relatively tame producer price inflation data against yesterday's hotter-than-expected consumer price inflation data. Back home, sugar industry stocks are in focus as food ministry said sugar mills have paid Rs 78,000 crore to sugarcane farmers in the first six months (October-March) of the current marketing season. In stock specific development, Maharashtra Seamless traded higher on winning order from ONGC.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74683.48, down by 354.67 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 74566.61 and 74951.88. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.59%, Power up by 0.52%, Utilities up by 0.42%, Industrials up by 0.38% and Realty up by 0.20%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.66%, FMCG down by 0.65%, Bankex down by 0.52%, Metal down by 0.36% and Basic Materials down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.68%, Tata Motors up by 1.09%, Nestle up by 0.62%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.13% and Reliance Industries up by 0.06%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.77%, Sun Pharma down by 1.47%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.46%, Asian Paints down by 1.40% and Titan Company down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with the help of public and private sector investment demand and gradual improvement in consumer demand, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to 7 per cent for the current fiscal (FY25) from 6.7 per cent earlier. Though, the growth estimates for 2024-25 is lower than 7.6 per cent projected for the 2022-23 fiscal. It noted that strong investment drove GDP growth in the 2022-23 fiscal as consumption was muted. The ADB had in December last year projected the Indian economy to expand 6.7 per cent in the 2024-25 fiscal.

The April edition of the Asian Development Outlook showed that ‘The economy grew robustly in fiscal 2023 with strong momentum in manufacturing and services. It will continue to grow rapidly over the forecast horizon. Growth will be driven primarily by robust investment demand and improving consumption demand. Inflation will continue its downward trend in tandem with global trends’. It added growth will be robust despite moderating in FY2024 and FY2025. For the 2025-26 fiscal, the ADB has projected India's growth at 7.2 per cent.

The ADB said exports are likely to be relatively muted this fiscal as growth in major advanced economies slows down but will improve in FY2025. It also said ‘Monetary policy is expected to remain supportive of growth as inflation abates, while fiscal policy aims for consolidation but retains support for capital investment. On balance, growth is forecast to slow to seven per cent in FY2024 but improve to 7.2 per cent in FY2025’, and added that to boost exports in the medium term, India needs greater integration into global value chains. The ADB's growth forecast for FY25 is in line with the projections made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22650.20, down by 103.60 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 22624.85 and 22726.45. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.74%, Divi's Lab up by 1.28%, Tata Motors up by 1.02%, Coal India up by 0.99% and Nestle up by 0.63%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.90%, Sun Pharma down by 1.63%, Asian Paints down by 1.58%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.50% and Titan Company down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng slipped 295.36 points or 1.73% to 16,799.67, KOSPI dropped 19.35 points or 0.71% to 2,687.61, Straits Times fell 9.25 points or 0.29% to 3,218.36 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.17 points or 0.04% to 3,033.08. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 177.64 points or 0.45% to 39,620.27 and Taiwan Weighted added 48.21 points or 0.23% to 20,801.43.