Domestic equity barometers hit fresh intraday high; European markets advance

The domestic equity benchmarks hit fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. The Nifty marched towards above the 17,550 level. European markets advanced while their Asian peers traded in a mixed manner.

At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 540.7 points or 0.91% to 59,647.14. The Nifty 50 index added 142.65 points or 0.82% to 17,540.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.85%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,472 shares rose and 964 shares fell. A total of 128 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kicked off its monetary policy meeting on 3 April 2023. The outcome of the meeting will be announced on Thursday, 6 April 2023.

The RBI`s monetary policy committee (MPC) is expected to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) in order to combat rising inflation.

Meanwhile, India`s gross domestic product (GDP) growth will likely soften to 6.3% in FY2024, as against earlier estimate of 6.6%, the World Bank stated in its India Development Update.

The bank stated that growth is set to be constrained by slower consumption growth and challenging external conditions. Rising borrowing costs and slower income growth will weigh on private consumption growth and government consumption is projected to grow at a slower pace due to the withdrawal of pandemic-related fiscal support measures.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Housing Development Finance Corporation rose 2.39%. The corporation announced that it had assigned individual loans amounting to Rs 9,340 crore during the quarter ended 31 March 2023, thereby recording a growth of 12% on YoY basis.

HDFC Bank gained 2.49%. The private lender said that its advances aggregated to approximately Rs 16,00,500 crore as of 31 March 2023, a growth of around 16.9 % over Rs 13,68,800 crore as of 31 March 2022. The bank`s deposits increased by 20.8% to Rs 18,83,500 crore as of 31 March 2023 from Rs 15,59,200 crore as of 31 March 2022.

Bajaj Finance advanced 0.87%. The NBFC said that new loans booked during Q4 FY23 grew by 20% to 7.6 million as compared to 6.3 million in Q4 FY22. The company`s customer franchise as of 31 March 2023 stood at 69.1 million, up 20% on YoY basis. Deposit book stood at approximately Rs 44,650 crore as of 31 March 2023, a YoY growth of 45%.

IndusInd Bank fell 1.20%. The private lender`s net advances improved to Rs 2,89,965 crore as of 31 March 2023, registering a growth of 21% as compared to Rs 2,39,052 crore as of 31 March 2022. The bank reported a 15% growth in deposits to Rs 3,36,443 crore as of 31 March 2023 from Rs 2,93,681 crore as of 31 March 2022 and a rise of 3% over Rs 3,25,485 crore as of 31 December 2022.

Grasim Industries rose 0.53%. The cement major announced that it has entered into three term loan agreements to avail the rupee term loan facility aggregating to Rs 5,000 crore from Axis Bank in terms of the approval by the finance committee of the company.

Global Markets:

European stock markets largely edged higher on Wednesday after data released today showed that German industrial orders soared 4.8% in February.

Additionally, French industrial production rose 1.2% on the month in February, ahead of the 0.5% growth expected, and a significant improvement from the revised drop of 1.4% the prior month.

Risk sentiments, however, continued to remain fragile with investors wary about the possibility of recessions on both sides of the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia traded mixed on Wednesday as Wall Street digested a key U.S. labor report that showed job openings dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years in February.

New Zealand`s central bank raised its benchmark cash rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%. New Zealand`s central bank said its latest rate hike decision was supported by the fact that inflation is still �too high and persistent.�

US stocks snapped four day winning streak in the last trading session as investors look towards OPEC+ production cuts and inflation impact of the same with uncertainty still looming for the global economy.

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