Post Session: Quick Review

Local equities concluded the day’s trade with cut of over half a percent ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January and India Industrial Production (IIP) data for December to be out later in the day. Thin holiday trade in Asian markets took their toll on domestic sentiments. In last leg of trade, markets touched day’s low levels amid cautiousness ahead of macroeconomic data. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index ended deep in red. 

After making cautious start, soon markets entered into red territory. Traders overlooked Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stating that net direct tax collection so far in current fiscal grew 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs 15.60 lakh crore, which is 80 per cent of revised budget estimates for full fiscal year. Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India continues to be a preferred FDI (foreign direct investment) destination despite soaring global interest rates. Markets extended their losses in afternoon session, as sentiments were negative, after India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report said that sustained disruptions in the Red Sea route is likely to raise the freight and forwarding (F&F) cost by 25-30 per cent for corporates largely dealing in international trade. Selling got intensified during last leg of trade, as investors preferred to sell their riskier assets. Finally, Nifty and Sensex ended below the psychological 21,650 and 71,200 levels respectively.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green ahead of a busy week packed with earnings, economic data releases and speeches by Federal Reserve officials. Indonesia market ended in green amid markets in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea closed for public holidays. Back home, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba has said that the government has provided nearly Rs 1.71 trillion as fertilisers subsidy during April-January period of FY24.

The BSE Sensex ended at 71,072.49, down by 523.00 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 70,922.57 and 71,756.58. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 2.62%, while Small cap index was down by 3.16%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.32%, IT up by 0.25% and TECK was up by 0.13%, while PSU down by 4.44%, Utilities down by 3.60%, Telecom down by 3.44%, Realty down by 3.01% and Industrials was down by 2.92% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.26%, HCL Tech. up by 2.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.86%, Infosys up by 0.61% and Nestle up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.76%, NTPC down by 2.72%, SBI down by 2.26%, Indusind Bank down by 2.20% and ITC down by 2.11% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India continues to be a preferred FDI (foreign direct investment) destination despite soaring global interest rates. He said that interest rates rose worldwide including in the US and that led to the flow of capital back in the developed nations. He said ‘That was a period where one would have imagined a much deeper impact on the developing economies than what India witnessed, but the strength of demand in India, the strength of opportunities that people saw in India, ensured that we did not see the drastic fall that many of our other peer countries (witnessed)’. 

The total FDI -- which includes equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital -- contracted 15.5 per cent to $32.9 billion during April-September this fiscal against $38.94 billion in April-June 2022. He further said ‘We continue to have significant FDI coming in...a lot of reinvestment of earnings happened even during this period when ideally I would have thought global balance sheets were very stressed’. 

He added that India continues to see traction for investments and the country ‘continues to see money coming in’. He also said ‘The material factor is that it (FDI) continues to come in. Very often when you see a very rapid growth on any statistic, you need some time for it to cool down also’. He said a very continuous and rapid growth of money flow sometimes is 'very harmful' for an economy also, ‘so I think India has been able to create a very fine balance in our control of inflation’.

The CNX Nifty ended at 21,616.05, down by 166.45 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 21,574.75 and 21,831.70. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.89%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.75%, Divi's Lab up by 2.41%, Wipro up by 2.24% and HCL Tech up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.13%, Hero MotoCorp down by 4.51%, BPCL down by 3.88%, ONGC down by 3.61% and Tata Steel down by 2.76% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 34.98 points or 0.46% to 7,682.50 and Germany’s DAX was up by 74.34 points or 0.44% to 17,000.84. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 11.86 points or 0.16% to 7,560.72.

Jakarta market ended higher on Monday followed by the momentum on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 closing above psychological mark of 5,000 for the first time. Meanwhile, most of the regional markets including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore were closed for the Lunar New Year, and the Japanese market was closed for National Day. Investors were eyeing on the release of US consumer price inflation data for January and Japanese GDP figures for the last quarter of 2023 this week for clues to the economic and monetary policy outlook.

Jakarta Composite gained by 62.52 points or 0.86% to settle at 7,297.67.