Markets trim some losses in late morning deals

Indian equity markets trimmed some of their losses but continued to trade in red in late morning deals on account of selling by funds and retail investors. Negative cues from the global markets weighed on the domestic markets. Sentiments remained weak as traders weighed the impact of Iran’s massive drone and missile attacks on Israel over the weekend. Markets participants remained on sidelines as India will release its wholesale inflation figures for March later in the day, while China will announce its first quarter GDP numbers on Tuesday. Japan will release its March trade data and inflation numbers on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Metal, Oil & Gas and Energy, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Bankex, Utilities, Power and Realty. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid rising geopolitical tensions in the middle-east where Iran launched retaliatory attack on Israel. Back home, in the stock specific development, Aster DM Healthcare surged after the company announced a special dividend of Rs 118 per share.    

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73761.55, down by 483.35 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 73315.16 and 73775.52. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.94%, while Small cap index down by 1.20%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.98%, Oil & Gas up by 0.38% and Energy up by 0.24%, while FMCG down by 1.08%, Bankex down by 1.07%, Utilities down by 1.04%, Power down by 0.98% and Realty down by 0.90% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 1.68%, Nestle up by 0.83%, TCS up by 0.47%, Tata Steel up by 0.34% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.90%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.69%, ICICI Bank down by 1.63%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.29% and Axis Bank down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in line with the good performance of the mining sector, India's industrial production growth, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7 per cent in February 2024 as against 3.8 per cent in January 2024. The factory output growth was 6 per cent in February 2023. The previous high of IIP was recorded at 11.9 per cent in October 2023, which slowed to 2.5 per cent in November, 4.2 per cent in December and 4.1 per cent in January 2024. During the April-February period of 2023-24, IIP growth touched 5.9 per cent, up from 5.6 per cent in the year-ago period.

As per the data, the mining output growth accelerated to 8 per cent in February against 4.8 per cent in the year-ago month. The manufacturing sector's output growth decelerated to 5 per cent in February against 5.9 per cent a year ago. The power generation growth also slowed to 7.5 per cent in February from 8.2 per cent growth in the same month of last year. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of February 2024 stood at 139.6, 144.5 and 187.1 respectively.

As per use-base classification, the output of primary goods logged 5.9 per cent growth in February this year, down from 7 per cent a year ago. The capital goods segment growth fell to 1.2 per cent in February 2024 compared to 11 per cent in the year-ago period. The expansion in the intermediate goods segment was 9.5 per cent in the month under review, higher than the 1 per cent recorded in the same period a year ago. Infrastructure/construction goods reported a growth of 8.5 in February 2024 against a 9 per cent expansion in the year-ago period. In February this year, consumer durables output expanded 12.3 per cent. It had contracted by 4.1 per cent in February 2023. Consumer non-durable goods output declined by 3.8 per cent during the month compared to a 12.5 per cent expansion in February 2023.

The indices stood at 148.2 for Primary Goods, 106.2 for Capital Goods, 158.9 for Intermediate Goods and 179.8 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of February 2024. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stood  at 121.6 and 148.9 respectively for the month of February 2024.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22378.05, down by 141.35 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 22263.55 and 22385.40. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.65%, Hindalco up by 3.40%, JSW Steel up by 1.64%, Nestle up by 0.71% and TCS up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 2.16%, Shriram Finance down by 1.92%, Tata Motors down by 1.91%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.67% and ICICI Bank down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 122.35 points or 0.74% to 16,599.34, Nikkei 225 slipped 398.35 points or 1.01% to 39,125.20, Taiwan Weighted lost 206.63 points or 1% to 20,529.94, Straits Times fell 34.59 points or 1.08% to 3,182.32 and KOSPI dropped 13.10 points or 0.49% to 2,668.72. However, Shanghai Composite strengthened 36.52 points or 1.2% to 3,055.99.