Markets range-bound; March WPI in focus

Markets traded range-bound with a negative bias this Monday as investors awaited March inflation data scheduled later today which will help decide the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy stance next month.

Wholesale prices are expected to have risen 6.40 percent in March from a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll. This is lower than February wholesale inflation of 6.84 percent.

Investors are hoping the central bank would ease monetary policy more aggressively next month if the inflation numbers turn out to be lower.

At 10AM, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share index Sensex fell 28.47 points to open at 18,209.09 while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty declined 11.05 points at 5,518.50.

In the domestic markets, foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs 285.9 million worth of stock on Friday, provisional data from stock exchanges showed.

Risk appetite was also frail after poor reading of U.S. consumer sentiment and unexpectedly weak retail sales raised concerns the U.S. economy may be losing momentum.

Meanwhile, Chinese economic growth and industrial production expanded less than economists’ estimated.

China’s first-quarter economic growth was at 7.9 percent , tad slower than the estimated 8 percent median growth, a report by the National Bureau Statistics showed.

Industrial production rose 8.9 percent in March, compared with the 10.1 percent median forecast, the report showed.

Asian markets traded lower with China’s Shanghai Composite Index falling 1% to 2,186, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.5% to 21,766, Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.34% to 3,284 while Japan’s Nikkei was down 1.3% to 13,321.

Back home, the key sectoral indices such as consumer durables, IT, auto, metal and capital goods lead declines while oil & gas, PSU, healthcare and real-estate sectors gained on BSE.

The gainers on the BSE included counters such as ONGC rising 2.7%, SBI gained 1.6%, Cipla added 0.8% while Reliance Industries was up 0.6% on BSE.

The laggards included counters such as Tata Motors falling 2.8%, Infosys and TCS declined 1.4% and 1% respectively, Coal India dropped 1.4%, Sterlite and Hindalco Industries shed 1% each on BSE.

The key notable movers included, gold loan companies such as Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance have tanked up to 17% in early morning deals after the prices of the yellow metal fell 3.5% on Saturday.

The broader markets gained with mid-caps and small-caps adding 0.1-0.4% on BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 1,115 stocks traded, 607 stocks gained compared to 465 declined on BSE.