Sensex down 400 pts, Nifty below 16,350; Titan down 3.5%

Key equity benchmarks once again witnessed selling pressure in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty fell below 16,350 level after crossing 16,450 mark in afternoon trade. Consumer durables stocks were under pressure.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 400.62 points or 0.73% at 54,702.06. The Nifty 50 index shed 149.10 points or 0.9% at 16,348.95.

The continued escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring oil prices and continued FIIs selling, dampened sentiment. FIIs were net sellers Rs 6,645 crore while DIIs were net buyers Rs 4,799 crore yesterday.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index lost 1.81% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.10%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,319 shares rose and 1,980 shares fell. A total of 110 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Segment:

The Nifty Consumer Durables index fell 2.2% to 26,576.05. The index has fallen 4.24% in three sessions.

Titan Company (down 3.55%), Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals (down 3.34%), Relaxo Footwears (down 3.28%), Blue Star (down 2.31%), Orient Electric (down 2.02%), Voltas (down 1.88%), Amber Enterprises (down 1.71%), Bata India (down 1.69%), TTK Prestige (down 1.59%), Havells India (down 1.48%), Dixon Technologies (India) (down 0.97%) and Kajaria Ceramics (down 0.62%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys fell 1.63%. The company said that it has prepaid the long term debt of Rs 127.65 crore, thereby making the total prepayment of Rs 308.65 crore till date. After payment of normal installments for the quarter ending 31 March 2022, the company will have miscellaneous loans of Rs 14.28 crore, which will be paid as per norms due to adverse prepayment conditions.

Time Technoplast added 0.20%. The company bagged an order for supply of 7,58,814 units of cylinders of 10 kg capacity for a value of approximately Rs 180 crore from Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL). The cylinders are to be supplied over the next 12 months.

Vikas Ecotech rose 2.54%. The company announced an investment in green renewable energy systems to support the electricity requirement of its manufacturing facilities in Rajasthan, India.

Global Stocks:

European shares declined while most Asian stocks ended lower on Friday, as Russia`s invasion of Ukraine escalates, with Russian forces attacking Europe`s largest nuclear power plant.

Ukraine`s nuclear agency says Russian military forces have taken control of the facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Situated in the southeast of the country, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant houses six of Ukraine`s 15 operational nuclear power reactors.

The bombardment triggered international condemnation and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the attack.

Traders also monitored comments from US Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell`s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee for his second day of Congressional testimony this week. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Thursday that the war in Ukraine intensified the need for the Fed to raise rates.

India Services PMI:

India`s services sector output increased to 51.8 in February from 51.5 in January, pointing to a moderate rate of expansion, as per a report by IHS Markit. Greater bookings, better demand conditions and the retreat of the pandemic drove this moderate expansion.

The composite PMI output rose to 53.5 in February from 53.0 in January, signaling a solid rate of expansion that was nonetheless below its long-run average, the IHS Markit stated.

Economy:

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called for increasing India`s share in global trade to 10% and taking India`s share of exports in GDP to about 25%. Addressing the closing session of the Post-Budget Webinar on `Make in India for the World`, Goyal said these are ambitious targets, but doable.

He said other countries are also talking of programmes very similar to AatmaNirbhar Bharat. Goyal called for taking India among the top three nations in Global Services Trade.

Stating that the government is looking at a more liberal regulatory regime for the Drones sector barring the Defence systems, he said that the Industry should aim to make India become the manufacturing hub of Drones.

He called for integrating quality in full value chain and said it should not just come into picture once the final product is made. Underlining the need to develop technical skills of tomorrow for the industry, the Minister called for the need to reorient academic courses to make it relevant to the "needs of today".

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