Benchmarks hit day's low, Nifty holds 14,800

Domestic indices extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The Nifty regained the crucial 14,800 mark after briefly sliding below that mark. Barring the Nifty IT index, all the sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the red.

At 11:31 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 744 points or 1.47% at 50,047.23. The Nifty 50 index fell 209.65 points or 1.39% at 14,821.20.

Investors reacted negatively to India's industrial output and retail (CPI) inflation data released on Friday. Rising COVID-19 cases also weighed on the sentiment.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.44% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.92%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 912 shares rose and 1878 shares fell. A total of 155 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 119,847,912 with 2,653,483 deaths. India reported 219,262 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 158,725 deaths while 110,07,352 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

The government will unveil data on inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for February today.

India's retail inflation (CPI) inched up to 5.03% in February, mainly due to rise in food and fuel prices. Food inflation rose to 3.87% in February, compared to 1.89% in the previous month. Inflation in 'fuel and light' category fell marginally to 3.53% in February compared to 3.87% in January but remained high compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation was at 4.06% in January which was lowest since October 2019.

Meanwhile, the country's factory output (IIP) for the month of January contracted by 1.6% after registering a 1% growth in December 2020. Electricity sector output grew 5.5% in January, while manufacturing contracted by 2% and mining output contracted by 3.7%.

Hit by COVID-19 spread and lockdowns, IIP contracted for five months in row from April to August in last fiscal before making a comeback to positive territory.

Further, Bank credit has risen by 6.63% to Rs 107.75 lakh crore and deposits grew by 12.06% to Rs 149.34 lakh crore in the fortnight ended 26 February, according to RBI data. In the fortnight ended 28 February last year, bank credit stood at Rs 101.05 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 133.26 lakh crore.

Bank credit increased by 6.58% to Rs 107.04 lakh crore and deposits rose by 11.75% to Rs 147.81 lakh crore in the previous fortnight ended 12 February 2021.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index declined 1.29% to 10,250.40, falling for second trading session. The index has lost nearly 3% in two days.

Mahindra & Mahindra (down 2.4%), Ashok Leyland (down 2.38%), Bajaj Auto (down 2.27%), Tata Motors (down 2.22%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.22%), Escorts (down 2%), MRF (down 1.87%), Balkrishna Industries (down 1.85%), Exide Industries (down 1.49%) and Eicher Motors (down 1.4%) declined.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading lower on Monday ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting stateside.

The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet on March 16 and 17 and it is reportedly expected that the U.S. central bank may revise up its GDP forecast, following a $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package that will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans.

US stocks closed mixed on Friday. The blue-chip Dow powered to its fifth consecutive record high on Friday and the S&P 500 closed slightly higher as investors bought shares that should benefit from a strong reopening of the U.S. economy.

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