Nifty hovers at 17,500; Anand Rathi Wealth jumps 11%

Equity indices traded sideways with small losses in afternoon trade. Metal, PSU bank stocks advanced while auto and financial service scrips dragged. The Nifty regained the 17,500 mark after briefly slipping below that level.

At 13:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex shed 104.64 points or 0.18% at 58,471.10. The Nifty 50 index slipped 24.15 points or 0.14% at 17,506.15.

The broader market bucked the trend. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.48%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,938 shares rose and 1,380 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Gainers & Losers:

ONGC (up 2.61%), Apollo Hospitals (up 2.35%), UPL (up 2.02%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Inds (up 1.03%) were top gainers in Nifty 50 index.

PowerGrid Corporation (down 1.95%), Asian Paints (down 1.8%), HDFC (down 1.62%) and Titan Company (down 1.61%) were top losers in Nifty 50 index.

Economy:

India's merchandise trade deficit for March 2022 touched $18.51 billion as against $13.64 billion in March 2021 and $9.98 billion in March 2020, data released by the government showed on Wednesday (13 April).

Merchandise exports in March 2022 were $42.22 billion, as against $35.26 billion in March 2021, exhibiting a positive growth of 19.76%. Merchandise imports in March 2022 were $60.74 billion, an increase of 24.21% over imports of $48.90 billion in March 2021.

The country's factory output (IIP) rose 1.7% in February 2022 compared to a revised estimate of 1.5% in January this year, the data published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Tuesday showed. As per the government data, the growth in the mining sector was at 4.5% in February 2022 as against a contraction of 4.4% in February 2021. The manufacturing sector expanded by 0.8% in February as compared to a contraction of 3.4% in the year-ago month.

Meanwhile, India's retail inflation jumped to a 17-month high of 6.95% in March from 6.07% in February, according to data released on 12 April 2022 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The sharp increase in Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in March was driven by an increase in prices across all but one of the major groups of the basket, with only the index of the housing component of the CPI declining on a month-on-month basis. This suggests the strengthening of price pressures.

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark paper rose to 7.213% compared with 7.189% at close in the previous trading session.

Results Today:

IT major Infosys (up 0.43%) will announce its financial results for quarter and year ending 31 March 2022 after market hours today.

Earnings Impact:

Anand Rathi Wealth jumped 11% after the company's consolidated net profit surged 256.66% to Rs 35 crore on 49% increase in total income to Rs 115 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021. On a consolidated basis, profit before tax climbed 169.60% year-on-year to Rs 44.08 crore while EBITDA surged 216% year-on-year to Rs 46 crore in Q4 March 2022. Asset Under Management (AUM) jumped 23% to Rs 32,906 crore during the period under review.

Hathway Cable & Datacom declined 4.14% after the company reported a 60.6% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 28.35 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 72.04 crore registered in Q4 FY21. Consolidated net sales grew by 2.3% to Rs 448.79 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Profit before tax slumped 27.1% to Rs 32.54 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 44.62 crore in Q4 FY21.

Global Markets:

Select European markets declined while Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday as investors watched for market reaction to the release of a slightly hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday announced its decision to raise the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 1.5%.

U.S. consumer prices rose 8.5% in March as compared with a year ago, the fastest annual gain since December 1981, according to official data released Tuesday. The core consumer price index which excludes food and energy, however, showed signs it may be ebbing. It rose 0.3% for the month.

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