Market ends with modest losses; Nifty closes below 17,500 level

The benchmark indices ended with modest cuts on Thursday. Trading was volatile as March 2022 F&O contracts expired today, 31 March 2022. The Nifty reversed from the day's high of 17,559.80 and settled below 17,500 mark.

As per provisional closing figures, the barometer index, S&P BSE Sensex fell 115.48 points or 0.20% at 58,568.51. The Nifty 50 index lost 33.50 points or 0.19% at 17,464.75.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.31%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, shares 1,510 rose and 1,887 shares fell. A total of 110 shares were unchanged.

 

Economy:

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) stated that its FY23 Economic Outlook released in the month of January 2022, is unlikely to hold in view of the global geo-political situation arising out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since the duration of Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to be uncertain, Ind-Ra has created two scenarios with respect to the FY23 economic outlook basis certain assumptions. In Scenario 1, the crude oil price is assumed to be elevated for three months, and in Scenario 2, the assumption is for six months, both with a half cost pass-through into the domestic economy.

Ind-Ra expects GDP to grow 7.2% Y-o-Y in Scenario 1 and 7% Y-o-Y in Scenario 2 in FY23, compared to its earlier forecast of 7.6%. However, the size of the Indian economy in FY23 will still be 10.6% and 10.8% lower than the FY23 GDP trend value in Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, respectively, the firm added.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index fell 0.44% to 36,304.20. The index rose 1.21% in the past two trading sessions.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) (down 2.46%), MindTree (down 2.38%), Mphasis (down 1.52%), Wipro (down 1.48%) and Coforge (down 1.43%) were the top losers in the IT segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Godrej Properties rose 0.50%. The real estate developer has acquired a 9 acres land parcel in the residential micro-market of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. The development will primarily be for a group housing project. Based on the current business assumptions, the project will have a developable potential of approximately 1.7 million square feet of saleable area with an estimated revenue potential of approximately Rs 1,400 crore. Pimpri-Chinchwad is one of the established residential locations in Pune and has excellent connectivity to all major social and commercial hubs of Pune city, Godrej Properties said in a statement.

Axis Bank gained 1.47%. The private bank will pay a consideration upto Rs 12,325 crore to Citibank for acquiring its consumer businesses in India. The transaction comprises the sale of the consumer businesses of Citibank India, which includes credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans. The deal also includes the sale of the consumer business of Citi's non-banking financial company, Citicorp Finance (India), comprising the asset-backed financing business, which includes commercial vehicle and construction equipment loans, as well as the personal loans portfolio. The deal offers strategic advantages to Axis Bank, such as premiumization of its overall customer portfolio, increased opportunities to cross-sell its products and accelerated digital transformation. Post the acquisition, Axis Bank will have about 28.5 million savings accounts, 2.3 lakh+ Burgundy customers and 10.6 million Cards.

IIFL Wealth Management added 0.63%. Bain Capital agreed to acquire 24.98% equity stake in the company. Bain Capital has agreed to acquire 24.98% equity stake in IIFL Wealth Management ("IIFLWAM") from General Atlantic Singapore Fund and FIH Mauritius Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax India Holdings Corporation. BC Asia Investments X will acquire 2,21,55,000 equity shares of IIFLWAM, constituting 24.98% stake, at Rs 1,661 per share, aggregating to Rs 3679.94 crore. The share purchase agreement was executed on 30 March 2022. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

Gail (India) rose 1.63%. The company proposes to buy back up to 5,69,85,463 equity shares, comprising 1.28% of the total paid-up equity capital of the company, at a price of Rs 190 per share, for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1082,72,37,970.

Grasim Industries gained 0.15%. The company said its unit, Birla Cellulose, has signed a letter of intent with Renewcell, the Swedish textile-to-textile recycling innovator, concerning a long-term commercial collaboration for man-made cellulosic fiber production. The agreement affirms the two companies' intent to work together to supply high quality Liva Reviva textile fibers made using Circulose, Renewcell's 100% recycled textile raw material, to global fashion brands and textile industry in the coming years. The shared ambition is to use 30,000 tonnes of Circulose per year. The agreement has been facilitated by Ekman Group, Renewcell's exclusive global trading partner.

Ashoka Buildcon lost 0.12%. Ashoka Buildcon on Thursday announced that it has received a Letter of Award (LOA) from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) worth Rs 1,079 crore. The scope of the project involves the development of 6 lane access controlled greenfield highway from Baswantpur (Maharashtra) to Singondi (Madhya Pradesh) of NH 150 C on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) under Bharatmala Pariyojana project. The accepted bid project cost for the project is Rs 1,079 crore with the construction period spanning for 912 days from the date of appointment. The operational period will be 15 years from the commercial operation date.

Bharti Airtel (up 0.97%) and Tech Mahindra (up 0.26%) announced a strategic partnership to build and market innovative solutions for India's digital economy by bringing together their core strengths. Airtel has been spearheading 5G demos and testing in India while Tech Mahindra has developed world-class 5G applications and platforms. Both the companies will set up a joint 5G innovation lab for developing Make in India use cases for the Indian and global markets. The two companies will also bring to market customized Enterprise Grade Private Networks. Airtel and Tech Mahindra will also offer secure Cloud and Content Delivery Network (CDN) solutions to businesses. Further, the two companies will explore leveraging Tech Mahindra's technological expertise to support Airtel in Cloud Engineering, implementation of tools for Cloud Orchestration.

Global Markets:

European shares declined while Asian stock ended on a mixed note on the last trading day of March, a month marked by global geopolitical and economic uncertainty after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The UK economy expanded more than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, reflecting the revisions across the service sector, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday. Gross domestic product grew 1.3% sequentially in the fourth quarter, instead of the initial estimate of 1%. This was also faster than the 0.9% rise in the third quarter.

China's factory activity likely shrank in March, as the country imposed more mass testing and activity controls amid its worst resurgence of COVID-19 cases since early 2020. The country's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for March came in at 49.5, lower than February's reading of 50.2.

Oil futures dived more than $5 a barrel on Thursday after reports indicated that the Biden administration is weighing releasing some 1 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves for several months in a bid to calm soaring crude prices.

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