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Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, amid negative signals from other Asian markets. Sentiments were fragile as India’s March wholesale price index-based inflation rose to 14.55 per cent as compared to 13.11 per cent in last month. According to the data released by the industry department, the high rate of inflation in March 2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals, owing to disruption in global supply chain caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict. Additional pressure came in as World Bank said that introduction of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) could potentially pose risks to privacy, increase responsibilities of the central bank, and may also lead to currency substitution through cross-border transactions. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower with the risk aversion in the market as surging oil rates amid persisting Ukraine crisis spurred inflation fears.

Closer home, stocks from Metal and Fast moving Consumer Goods counters were the only sector which showcased resilience, while stocks from IT, Technology and Telecom counters emerged as the laggards of the sector. The overall market breadth on BSE remained in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 2223:1211, while 132 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57035.95, down by 1302.98 points or 2.23% after trading in a range of 57029.43 and 57420.80. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.31%, while Small cap index was down by 1.03%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.50% and FMCG was up by 0.33%, while IT down by 4.89%, TECK down by 4.81%, Telecom down by 1.92%, Bankex down by 1.86% and Realty was down by 1.67% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.19%, Tata Steel up by 2.08%, Nestle up by 1.27%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.19% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.55%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.28%, HDFC down by 4.51%, HDFC Bank down by 4.33% and Wipro was down by 3.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports rose 19.76 per cent to $42.22 billion in March 2022 as compared to $35.26 billion in March 2021, on account of healthy performance by sectors such as petroleum products, engineering, and leather. The trade deficit widened to $18.51 billion in March 2022 from $13.64 billion from the year-ago period.

As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, Merchandise exports for the period April-March 2021-22 was $419.65 Billion as against $291.81 Billion during the period April-March 2020-21, registering a positive growth of 43.81 per cent. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in March 2022 were $30.67 Billion, registering a positive growth of 9.40 per cent over $28.03 Billion in March 2021. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports during April-March 2021-22 was $315.11 Billion, an increase of 31.31 per cent over $239.98 Billion in April-March 2020-21.

On the other hand, merchandise imports in March 2022 were $60.74 Billion, which is an increase of 24.21 per cent over imports of $48.90 Billion in March 2021. Merchandise imports for the period April-March 2021-22 was $611.89 Billion as against $394.44 Billion during the period April-March 2020-21, registering a positive growth of 55.13 per cent. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $37.35 Billion in March 2022 with a positive growth of 35.44 per cent over $27.58 Billion in March 2021. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $370.36 Billion in April-March 2021-22, recording a positive growth of 43.85 per cent, as compared to $257.47 Billion in April-March 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17146.60, down by 329.05 points or 1.88% after trading in a range of 17129.55 and 17237.75. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 4.12%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.55%, Tata Steel up by 2.01%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.66% and ONGC was up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.75%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.34%, HDFC down by 4.56%, HDFC Bank down by 4.28% and Apollo Hospital was down by 3.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 293.48 points or 1.08% to 26,799.71, KOSPI fell 2.85 points or 0.11% to 2,693.21, Taiwan Weighted dropped 105.31 points or 0.62% to 16,898.87, Straits Times trembled 22.09 points or 0.66% to 3,313.76 and Shanghai Composite was down by 16.67 points or 0.52% to 3,194.57.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 28.43 points or 0.39% to 7,263.96.

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