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Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in afternoon session, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants amid weakness across Asian peers. Sentiments were fragile as India's crude oil import bill nearly doubled to $119 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, as energy prices soared globally following the return of demand and war in Ukraine. Additional pressure came in as private report cut India's 2022-23 economic growth forecast by 70 basis points to 7 percent, citing slowing global growth due to high commodity prices, and weak local demand because of energy price hikes, inflationary pressures and a struggling labour market. Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree, offloading shares worth Rs 2,461.72 crore on Friday, also impacted traders’ sentiments. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower on growing concerns of a sharp hike in US interest rates as officials struggle to contain runaway inflation, while oil was hit by expectations Chinese demand will dry up owing to Covid lockdowns.

Closer home, stocks from banking counters was the only sector which showcased some resilience, while stocks from realty, metal and telecom counters emerged as the laggards of the sector. Broader markets also weakened, further denting investors' sentiment, with the midcap and smallcap indices down by over 1% each in. The overall market breadth on BSE remained in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 2449:946, while 136 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56719.10, down by 478.05 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 56412.14 and 56875.65. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.65%, while Small cap index was down by 1.35%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Bankex was up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 3.39%, Metal down by 3.25%, Telecom down by 2.51%, PSU down by 2.11% and Basic Materials was down by 1.95% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.76%, Axis Bank up by 0.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.79% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.38%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.95%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.60%, ITC down by 2.49% and NTPC was down by 2.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has revised the outlook for residential real estate for the current fiscal (FY23) to stable from negative on an improved demand. The revision in the outlook has been supported by multi-year high sales which in turn are driven by increasing preference for home ownership, improved affordability, all-time-low home loan interest rate, among other factors. Housing sales in top seven cities are expected to grow by 3 per cent this fiscal.

According to the report, the sharp recovery in demand in the aftermath of Covid has improved pricing flexibility, particularly in completed projects. In FY23 as well, it said the prices are expected to rise, depending on the project specific sales traction, to compensate for the rise in construction cost seen in recent quarters. Healthy demand prospects and pricing flexibility in completed projects can help developers to maintain profitability margins.

The report further said the demand is expected to remain firm even if there is an increase in interest rate on home loans by 50-75 bps from current levels. New launches are expected to be ramped up significantly, supported by reduced unsold inventory levels and steady demand. It expects launches to be around 400 million square feet in FY23, which is 21 per cent higher than the estimated launches of 330 million square feet in FY22. It added that the larger and reputed builders with better delivery track record continue to gain market share while the weaker players are yet to fully recover.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16966.90, down by 205.05 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 16928.60 and 17054.30. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 1.34%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.72%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.67%, Axis Bank up by 0.48% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.14%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 5.69%, Coal India down by 4.58%, SBI Life Insurance down by 3.94%, Tata Steel down by 3.40% and Hindalco down was by 3.31% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 514.48 points or 1.9% to 26,590.78, KOSPI fell 45.29 points or 1.67% to 2,659.42, Jakarta Composite lost 10.14 points or 0.14% to 7,215.47, Taiwan Weighted dropped 404.19 points or 2.37% to 16,620.90, Hang Seng decreased 732.49 points or 3.55% to 19,906.03, Straits Times trembled 15.57 points or 0.46% to 3,345.54 and Shanghai Composite was down by 136.33 points or 4.42% to 2,950.59.

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