Market drifts lower ahead of RBI policy

The domestic equity benchmarks were trading with minor cuts in early trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,550 mark. Media, PSU bank and oil & gas stocks advanced while IT, consumer durables and FMCG shares corrected. Investors were cautious ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)`s policy announcement due later today.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 84.87 points or 0.14% to 59,604.44. The Nifty 50 index declined 27.70 points or 0.16% to 17,529.35.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.03% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.28%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,777 shares rose and 882 shares fell. A total of 103 shares were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India kicked off its monetary policy meeting on 3 April 2023. The outcome of the meeting will be announced today, 6 April 2023. The RBI`s monetary policy committee (MPC) is widely expected to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) in order to combat rising inflation.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 806.82 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 947.21 crore in the Indian equity market on 5 April, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hero MotoCorp shed 0.20%. The 2-wheeler maker launched a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its staff. The VRS has been designed in line with the vision to make the organization agile and `Future-ready`, consolidating roles and reducing layers to increase empowerment and agility.

Infosys fell 0.35%. The IT major announced that it has extended its collaboration with LexisNexis, a data and analytics company, to provide end-to-end information services across their range of content, enterprise, and product applications.

Tata Steel declined 0.19%.Tata Steel India achieved highest ever annual crude steel production of about 19.9 million tons, with a growth of 4% YoY by debottlenecking across sites and ramp up of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited. In 4QFY23, crude steel production was up 3% QoQ and stood at around 5.15 million tons.

Avenue Supermarts slipped 2.64%. The company`s standalone revenue from operations for the quarter ended 31 March 2023 stood at Rs 10,337.12 crore as compared to Rs 8,606.09 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) fell 0.92%. Nykaa in its revenue update for Q4 FY23 said the company has continued to display healthy revenue growth trends. During the quarter, Beauty & Personal Care (BPC) categories have seen sustained strong demand, partly aided by the `Pink Love` sale introduced during the quarter.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 7.280from 7.273 in previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged slightly lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.91, compared with its close of 81.9050 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2023 settlement declined 0.43% to Rs 60,592.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.15 to 102.01.

The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 0.27% to 3.296.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2023 settlement fell 82 cents or 0.96% to $84.17 a barrel.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading lower on Thursday as Wall Street digested the latest ADP private payrolls report, which showed slowing job growth in March.

US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday 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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