BAROMETERS TRADE SIDEWAYS, AUTO STOCKS IN DEMAND

The key equity indices traded near the flat line in morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,350 mark. Auto stocks extended gains for the third consecutive trading session.

At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 10.32 points or 0.02% to 58,981.20. The Nifty 50 index rose 7.30 points or 0.04% to 17,367.05.

The broader market outperformed the headline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.30% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.06%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,461 shares rose and 728 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy meeting begins today. The outcome of the meeting will be announced on April 6. The RBI`s monetary policy committee (MPC) may reportedly increase the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) in order to combat rising inflation.

The gross GST revenue collected in March 2023 is Rs. 1,60,122 crore. The total gross collection for 2022-23 stands at Rs 18.10 lakh crore. The gross revenues in 2022-23 were 22% higher than that last year. This was the fourth time in the current financial year that the gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore, marking the second-highest collection ever.

India Manufacturing PMI:

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI) rose from 55.3 in February to 56.4 in March, signalling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far. That said the PMI average for the final fiscal quarter (55.7) came in below that recorded in the prior period (56.3 in Q3).

Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "Underlying demand for Indian goods remained strong in March, underscored by the quickest upturn in factory orders for three months. Hence, production continued to expand at a robust clip and firms stepped up their stock-building efforts.

"Companies reported abundant capacity among themselves and their suppliers. Pending workloads expanded only marginally in March, hindering job creation. As for supply chains, improved availability of raw materials among vendors resulted in shorter delivery times and retreating price pressures. Overall, input costs rose at the second-slowest rate since September 2020.

"Firms tried to benefit as much as possible from this moderation in inflation by acquiring additional raw materials and semi-finished items. This contributed to one of the strongest increases in input inventories in over 18 years of data collection.

"Although manufacturers were upbeat towards future new orders, they somewhat doubted that inflation would continue to recede. Such worries restricted optimism towards output prospects."

New listing:

Shares of Udayshivakumar Infra were currently trading at Rs 33.70 at 10:15 IST on the BSE, representing a discount of 3.71% compared with the issue price of Rs 35.

The scrip was listed at a price of Rs 35, same as its issue price.

So far, the stock has hit a high of 35 and a low of 33.25. On the BSE, over 6.77 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index gained 1.39% to 12,414.40, extending gains for the third session. The index rallied 4.17% in three trading sessions.

Hero MotoCorp (up 2.75%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.51%), Ashok Leyland (up 2.33%), Bajaj Auto (up 1.75%), Eicher Motors (up 1.53%), Sona BLW Precision Forgings (up 1.5%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.08%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.94%), Samvardhana Motherson International (up 0.75%) and Bosch (up 0.57%) edged higher.

Tata Motors added 0.39%.The auto major`s total domestic sales rose 3% to 89,351 units sold in March 2023 as against 86,718 units sold in March 2022.The total domestic sales increased by 14.54% last month compared with 78,006 units in February 2023.

The company said that its sales in the domestic and international market for Q4 FY23 stood at 2,51,822 vehicles compared with 2,43,459 units during Q4 FY22, up 3.4% year on year (YoY).

Maruti Suzuki India gained 2.51%. The company announced increase in prices across models. An estimated weighted average of increase across models stands at around 0.8% and is calculated using Ex Showroom prices of models in Delhi. This is effective from 1 April 2023. Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki India sold a total of 170,071 units in March 2023 as compared to 170,395 units in March 2022. For the financial year 2022-23, the company posted its highest ever total sales of 1,966,164 units.

Hero MotoCorp rose 2.75%. Hero MotoCorp sold 519,342 units in March 2023, translating into a double-digit growth of 15% over the corresponding month of 2022, when it had sold 450,154 two-wheelers.

TVS Motor Company rose 0.94%. TVS Motor Company registered a growth of 3% with sales increasing from 307,954 units in March 2022 to 317,152 units in March 2023.

Ashok Leyland advanced 2.33%. The commercial vehicles maker reported 19% rise in total vehicle sales to 23,926 units in March 2023 from 20,123 units in March 2022.

Stocks in Spotlight:

UltraTech Cement added 0.64% after the company said that it had recorded 14% increase in consolidated cement sales volume to 31.7 million tons (MT) in Q4 FY23 from 27.7 MT in Q4 FY22. As compared with Q3 FY23, the company`s consolidated sales volume has risen by 22%. Sales volume in the previous quarter stood at 25.9 MT.

Tejas Networks jumped 5.21% after the company said it won Rs 696 crore order for a pan-India router network from Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL).

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