Benchmarks trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally in red in morning deals, influenced by profit-taking, weak trends in US markets, and foreign fund outflows. Provisional data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 522.30 crore on April 1. However, losses remain capped as traders took support with a private survey showed the manufacturing sector in India closed out FY24 a stellar performance in March, as companies stepped up hiring in response to strong production and new orders. The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI rose to a 16-year high of 59.1 in March, from 56.9 in February. While this number was the highest since February 2008, it was lower than HSBC's preliminary estimate of 59.2. A reading of over 50 separates expansion from contraction. On the sectoral front, select power industry stocks were trading lower as the government data showed that India's power consumption growth remained subdued at 1.4 per cent to 129.89 billion units (BU) in March as compared to the year-ago period mainly due to pleasant weather. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as strong manufacturing data from the U.S. dented hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73879.04, down by 135.51 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 73792.53 and 74099.78. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.83%, Realty up by 0.86%, Industrials up by 0.61%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.56% and Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, while Telecom down by 0.58%, TECK down by 0.37%, Metal down by 0.33%, IT down by 0.27% and Bankex down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.52%, HDFC Bank up by 1.05%, Nestle up by 0.79%, Tata Motors up by 0.78% and Titan Company up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.51%, ICICI Bank down by 1.31%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.80% and TCS down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence has said that India’s defence exports have touched a record Rs 21,083 crore (around $2.63 billion) in the financial year 2023-24, with a growth of 32.5 per cent over the last fiscal when the figure was Rs 15,920 crore. The recent figures indicate that the defence exports have grown by 31 times in the last 10 years as compared to 2013-14. The defence industry, including the private sector and defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs), has made tremendous efforts in achieving the highest-ever defence exports. The private sector and the DPSUs have contributed about 60 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.

Further, the ministry said there has been a rise in the number of export authorisations issued to the defence exporters during 2023-24. From 1,414 export authorisations in 2022-23, the number jumped to 1,507 in 2023-24. A comparative data of two decades - the period from 2004-05 to 2013-14 and 2014-15 to 2023-24 reveals that there has been a growth of 21 times in the defence exports. Total defence exports during 2004-05 to 2013-14 were Rs 4,312 crore, which has gone up to Rs 88,319 crore in the period from 2014-15 to 2023-24.

The remarkable growth has been achieved due to the policy reforms and ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiatives brought in by the government, in addition to the end-to-end digital solution provided to the Indian industries for promoting defence exports. This growth is a reflection of global acceptability of Indian defence products and technologies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22430.15, down by 31.85 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 22414.35 and 22497.60. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.65%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.13%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.86%, Indusind Bank up by 1.38% and HDFC Bank up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.03%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.58%, ICICI Bank down by 1.31%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.23% and Coal India down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 198.54 points or 0.98% to 20,420.87, Hang Seng advanced 390.11 points or 2.3% to 16,931.53, Straits Times rose 12.01 points or 0.37% to 3,246.90, KOSPI increased 3.11 points or 0.11% to 2,750.97 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.95 points or 0.03% to 3,078.33.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 29.75 points or 0.41% to 7,175.31 and Nikkei 225 slipped 0.94 points or 0% to 39,802.15.