Market trades near flat line, European Mkt open lower

The key equity indices traded near flat line with negative bias in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near 22,550 mark. Realty, FMCG and financial services shares witnessed buying demand while IT, media and auto shares under pressure.

At 13:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 22.88 points or 0.03% to 74,208.30. The Nifty 50 index lost 14.10 points or 0.06% to 22,500.55.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.35% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.38%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,268 shares rose and 1,466 shares fell. A total of 127 shares were unchanged.

RBI Monetary Policy Outcome:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy committee (MPC) has voted to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%. This is the seventh time that the 6 member Monetary Policy Committee has decided to keep the key rates unchanged.

RBI`s MPC at its meeting today, 5 April 2024, decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.50%. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains unchanged at 6.25% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75%.

The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns to the target, while supporting growth.

These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth.

The real GDP growth for 2024-25 is projected at 7% with Q1 at 7.1%; Q2 at 6.9%; Q3 at 7%; and Q4 also at 7%. The CPI inflation for 2024-25 is projected at 4.5% with Q1 at 4.9%; Q2 at 3.8%; Q3 at 4.6%; and Q4 at 4.5%.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das elaborated on the decision, stating that inflation has decreased from its peak of 5.7%. He noted favorable growth-inflation dynamics and a steady decline in core inflation, reaching its lowest point in nine months. Despite volatile food inflation in February, core inflation, excluding food and fuel, has shown a downward trend. Concerns remain regarding the impact of weather variations on inflation and economic stability.

The minutes of the MPC�s meeting will be published on 19 April 2024. The next meeting of the MPC is scheduled during June 5 to 7, 2024.

Gainers & Losers:

HDFC Bank (up 1.49%), Bajaj Finserv (up 1.40%), State Bank of India (up 1.30%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.77%) and Dr Reddy`s laboratories (up 0.73%) were major Nifty gainers.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.80%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.46%), Ultratech Cement (down 1.45%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.44%) and Larsen & Toubro (down 1.34%) were major Nifty losers.

Bajaj Finance declined 1.46%. The NBFC announced that its new loans booked increased by 4% to 7.87 million in Q4 FY24 as compared to 7.56 million recorded in Q4 FY23.

UltraTech Cement declined 1.45%. The company announced the completion of 100 MW solar energy project under the Group Captive scheme in the state of Rajasthan. This is the company�s first project for sourcing power for its captive consumption from the inter-state transmission network.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Hero MotoCorp rose 0.46%. The company has received assessment orders/ demand notices pertaining to six assessment years from the Income Tax Department. The company has received the orders / notices pertaining to six assessment years, amounting to a tax demand of Rs 308.65 crore and interest thereon of Rs 296.22 crore. This is on account of certain disallowances, for the assessment years 2013-14 to 2017-18 and 2019-20.

LTIMindtree shed 0.50%. Aforza, the leading cloud and mobile solution specifically built for the Consumer Products industry, and LTIMindtree, announced a strategic partnership to deliver digital transformation in CRM & TPM across the consumer products industry.

Bandhan Bank shed 0.33%. The Bank�s total deposits rose by 25.1% to Rs 1,35,198 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024 from Rs 1,08,069 crore recorded in the quarter ended 31 March 2023.

ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB) advanced 2.05% after the bank�s total deposits jumped 35.47% to Rs 19,868 crore in Q4 FY24 as against Rs 14,666 crore recorded in Q4 FY23.

IndusInd Bank fell 0.54%. The private lender`s net advances jumped 18% to Rs 3,42,857 crore as of 31 March 2024 as compared to Rs 2,89,924 crore as of 31 March 2023.

Kalyan Jewellers India shed 0.17%. The jewellery retailer said that its revenue jumped approximately 38% from India operations during Q4 FY24 as compared to Q4 FY23.

Niyogin Fintech rallied 4.09% after the company reported 90% increase in gross transaction value to Rs 11,034 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 5,817.8 crore recorded in Q4 FY23.

Macrotech Developers added 1.24% after the company said that it has recorded pre-sales of Rs 4,230 crore in Q4 FY24, recording a growth of 40% on a YoY basis.

Global Markets:

European and Asian stocks declined on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street amid rate cut uncertainty, and sharp rise in crude oil prices. Financial markets in Mainland China, and Taiwan are closed for Qingming Festival on Friday.

US stock indexes fell more than 1% on Thursday as Federal Reserve officials took a cautious approach in comments on the outlook for interest rate cuts, and investors braced for Friday`s US monthly jobs report.

On Thursday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari cast doubts on Thursday over the central bank cutting rates at all if inflation remained sticky.

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