Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start on Monday tracking weakness in Asian peers. Soon, markets extended their losses and are trading lower with cut of around a percent each in early deals. Selling in Bankex, Healthcare and Energy stocks weighted down on the indices. Disappointing macro-economic data also dampened sentiments in the markets. The government data showed that India's retail inflation rose to 5.03 per cent in February, mainly on account of higher food prices. According to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted 1.6 per cent for January 2021. Besides, the WPI inflation is scheduled to be released later in the day. Additionally, India reported 26,514 fresh Covid-19 cases on Friday pushing the overall tally to 11,385,158, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 158,762. Traders overlooked Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur’s statement that there are green shoots visible in various sectors of the economy and the country is already looking at a V-shaped recovery.
Most of the Asian markets were trading mostly lower ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting stateside. The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet on March 16 and 17 and there are expectation that the US central bank to revise up its GDP forecast, following a $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package that will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans. Back home, auto stocks were in focus as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) revised the outlook for the auto sector to improving for financial year 2022 from negative, backed by likely revival across segments, positive consumer sentiments amid macroeconomic tailwinds after recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. In scrip specific development, Tata Communications traded higher amid report that the government will sell its entire 26.12 percent stake in the company.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50254.71, down by 537.37 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 50068.83 and 50834.78. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.87%.
The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex down by 1.65%, Healthcare down by 1.31%, Energy down by 1.18%, PSU down by 1.04%, Industrials down by 0.95%, while there was no gainers.
The few gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 0.82%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.74% and TCS up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.13%, SBI down by 2.12%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.79%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.74% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.70% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian has said that India requires growth at this juncture, even with economic tradeoffs, as it aspires to increase its dominance and self- reliance in the global economy. His comment comes ahead of the revision of policy framework and inflation targets by the Monetary Policy Committee headed by the RBI governor by March 31. It will be the first review for RBI since it was tasked with a mandated inflation target of 4 percent with a 2 percent deviation either way in June 2016, when it adopted a flexible inflation targeting model.
Subramanian said ‘at this juncture we must focus on growth and when it comes to pressures for trade-offs, we must be leaning on growth.’ Talking about realising 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', he said the private sector has to get back to Subh Labh (ethical profit) and not profiteering as India intends to move out from doing business.
He also called for a change in the mindset on how to increase the pie of government taxes instead of seeking its reduction across sectors. He said the cycle of private sector investment will begin though there is a lag and to support it government spending in capex is necessary. The government has already begun it and it will trigger private investment.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14885.05, down by 145.90 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 14818.50 and 15048.40. There were 5 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 0.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.87%, Tata Steel up by 0.69%, JSW Steel up by 0.42% and Hindalco up by 0.00%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.49%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.29%, Axis Bank down by 2.09%, GAIL India down by 1.94% and SBI down by 1.86% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 lost 3.43 points or 0.01% to 29,714.40, Taiwan Weighted lost 7.25 points or 0.04% to 16,247.93, KOSPI declined 11.01 points or 0.36% to 3,043.38, Jakarta Composite fell 19.54 points or 0.31% to 6,338.67, and Shanghai Composite was down by 21.07 points or 0.61% to 3,432.01. On the other hand, Straits Times gained 9.48 points or 0.31% to 3,104.70 and Hang Seng jumped 167.43 points or 0.58% to 28,907.15.