Mr. Mitul Shah - Head of Research at Reliance Securities.
Indian equities ended lower tracking weakness in Asian and European markets. Nifty ended 0.8% lower. Broader markets under-performed the main index as Nifty Mid Cap and Nifty Small Cap were down 1.2% and 1.7% respectively. All sectoral indices ended in red. Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty were lower by 2.3% each while Nifty PSU Bank lost 2.1%. Meanwhile, the Finance Bill, 2023 was passed in the Lok Sabha on Friday. European indices tumbled in early trade, dragged down by fresh banking crisis. Deutsche Bank stock fell over 8% after a sharp jump in the cost of insuring against the risk of default. UBS too was down 6%.
U.S. stocks edged higher and ended flat as investors weighed the future path of interest rates following the Federal Reserve's 25bps hike. The S&P 500 ended 0.3% higher, the Dow Jones added 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rallied 1.0%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that officials considered skipping a rate increase after stress in the banking sector intensified last week. The 10-year Treasury yield extended its drop, declining to 3.298%.
The markets will closely follow global cues and the developments in the US and European banking system. Domestically, CPI and WPI have cooled and trade deficit has narrowed. Brent crude prices have recovered from the lows seen last week. The unseasonal rains this week have caused large scale crop damage across large swathes of India. This is likely to keep food prices higher in the coming months.