The key equity indices came off the day's low in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 17,100 level after hitting the day's high of 17,224.65 in morning trade. Metal stocks witnessed selling pressure for three consecutive sessions.
At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 281.76 points or 0.48% to 57,956.09. The Nifty 50 index lost 94.55 points or 0.55% to 17,059.75.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.57% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.95%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 971 shares rose and 2,500 shares fell. A total of 109 shares were unchanged.
The turmoil in the US banking space with the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the closure of New York-based Signature Bank dampened the investors sentiment. Meanwhile, traders will keep a close eye on the U.S. consumer price index for February, due to be released later in the day.
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Economy:
India's annual wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation eased to 25-month low of 3.85% in February 2023 as compared to 4.73% recorded in January 2023 and 13.43% in February 2022.
Decline in the rate of inflation in February 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, non-food articles, food products, minerals, computer, electronic & optical products, chemicals & chemical products, electrical equipment and motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers.
Meanwhile, India's retail inflation, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased marginally in February but remained stubbornly above the 6% mark for the second straight month. Data released on Monday revealed that retail inflation stood at 6.44% in February against 6.52% in January. It stood at 6.07% a year ago. Both food and core inflation remained sticky and elevated at over 6% last month and the price pressures were higher in rural areas than urban centres.
Separately, as per the latest estimates of National Income released by National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), real GDP is projected to grow by 9.1% in 2021-22 (1st RE) and 7% in 2022-23 (2nd AE). This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank projects India to be the fastest-growing major economy in 2023.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.359 from 7.365 in previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.4525, compared with its close of 82.2375 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement was down 0.29% to Rs 57,475.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.36% to 103.99
The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 2.14% to 3.590.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement slipped $1.31 or 1.62% to $79.46 a barrel.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index declined 1.63% to 5,494.00. The index was down 3.32% in three trading sessions.
Adani Enterprises (down 9.14%), Ratnamani Metals & Tubes (down 2.83%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.62%), Hindustan Zinc (down 1.36%), Welspun Corp (down 1.32%), JSW Steel (down 0.76%), National Aluminium Company (down 0.61%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.46%), Steel Authority of India (down 0.4%) and Vedanta (down 0.36%) declined.
On the other hand, APL Apollo Tubes (up 1%), Jindal Stainless (up 0.99%) advanced.
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