The key equity benchmarks hit fresh intraday high in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad above the 17,600 level. Financials, metals and pharma stocks led the gains while IT, FMCG and consumer durable stocks lagged behind. Markets in Europe traded in the green while their Asian peers traded in a mixed manner today.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 151.7 points or 0.25% to 59,841.01. The Nifty 50 index added 49.50 points or 0.28% to 17,606.55.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.75% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.68%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,311 shares rose and 1,087 shares fell. A total of 122 shares were unchanged.
RBI Monetary Policy:
RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting today (April 6, 2023) decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.50%.
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%.
All members of the MPC unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns with 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.
Assuming an annual average crude oil price (Indian basket) of $85 per barrel and a normal monsoon, CPI inflation is projected at 5.2% for 2023-24 (vs. 5.3% projected in the previous meeting), with Q1 at 5.1%, Q2 at 5.4%, Q3 at 5.4% and Q4 at 5.2%, and risks evenly balanced.
Real GDP growth for 2023-24 is projected at 6.5% (vs. 6.4% projected in the previous meeting) with Q1:2023-24 at 7.8%; Q2 at 6.2%; Q3 at 6.1%; and Q4 at 5.9%, with risks evenly balanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Tata Steel shed 0.14%. Tata Steel India achieved highest ever annual crude steel production of about 19.9 million tons, with a growth of 4% YoY by debottlenecking across sites and ramp up of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited. In 4QFY23, crude steel production was up 3% QoQ and stood at around 5.15 million tons.
Avenue Supermarts slipped 3.83%. The company's standalone revenue from operations for the quarter ended 31 March 2023 stood at Rs 10,337.12 crore as compared to Rs 8,606.09 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022.
Hero MotoCorp lost 0.39%. The 2-wheeler maker launched a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its staff. The VRS has been designed in line with the vision to make the organization agile and 'Future-ready', consolidating roles and reducing layers to increase empowerment and agility.
Infosys was down 0.09%. The IT major announced that it has extended its collaboration with LexisNexis, a data and analytics company, to provide end-to-end information services across their range of content, enterprise, and product applications.
Dabur slipped 3.39%. The FMCG major announced that its India business is expected to report mid-single digit revenue growth however, the International business is expected to deliver high single-digit growth in constant currency in Q4 FY23. Overall, Dabur's consolidated revenue is expected to post mid-single digit growth during the quater.
Global Markets:
European markets advanced while Asian stocks traded mixed on Thursday as Wall Street digested the latest ADP private payrolls report, which showed slowing job growth in March.
China's service sector activity continued to expand in March, according to the latest Caixin services purchasing managers' index that rose to 57.8. The reading marks the fourth month of acceleration and above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.
It also reached the highest reading since November 2020. The increase in activity was supported by a sustained and sharper rise in new business, Caixin said in its release.
Private company hiring fell sharply in March and was well below expectations, according to a report from payroll processing firm ADP. Payrolls rose by just 145,000 for the month, down from 261,000 in February and below the Dow Jones estimate for 210,000.
Losses in financial activities, profession and business services and manufacturing pushed the total lower. Leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and utilities and construction led hiring.
US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as investors look towards OPEC+ production cuts and inflation impact of the same with uncertainty still looming for the global economy.
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