The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open on a flat note on Wednesday as indicated by the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange amid weak global cues. Today is the last working day of the week as markets will remain closed on Thursday and Friday owing to trading holiday on occasions of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday respectively. On Tuesday, Sensex and Nifty fell for second straight session dragged by selling pressure in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever.
SGX Nifty Update
The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty Futures fell 0.02 per cent or 3 points to 17,562.
Asian Markets
Most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan's Nikkei rising 1.5 per cent, Taiwan Weighted up 1.2 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI up 0.72 per cent.
US Markets
Stocks ended slightly lower on Wall Street Tuesday after investors weighed new data showing some signs that inflation slowed slightly in March, though overall it remained at its highest level in 40 years.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent after having been up 1.3 per cent earlier in the day. The pullback extends the benchmark index’s losing streak to a third day, reflecting investors’ worries about the potential economic collateral damage as the Federal Reserve tackles high inflation more aggressively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite each fell 0.3 per cent after shedding early gains.
The indexes initially rallied following the release of the report, which showed inflation last month was again at its highest level in generations, driven by soaring gasoline prices in particular. Still, the reading was relatively close to economists’ expectations, news agency AP reported.
Gold and Crude Oil Price Check
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for May delivery fell $3.97 to $94.29 a barrel Monday. Brent crude for June delivery fell $4.30 to $98.48 a barrel.
Gold for June delivery rose $2.60 to $1,948.20 an ounce. Silver for May delivery rose 17 cents to $24.99 an ounce and May copper fell 9 cents to $4.63 a pound.
The dollar rose to 125.46 Japanese yen from 124.37 yen. The euro rose to $1.0890 from $1.0885.
Russia-Ukraine War Update
The United States and its allies are pushing ahead with sanctions aimed at forcing Vladimir Putin to spend Russia’s money propping up its economy rather than sustaining its “war machine” for the fight in Ukraine, a top Treasury Department official said Tuesday.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the goal is to make Russia “less able to project power in the future.”
Key Developments In The Russia-Ukraine War:
Foreign Flows
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,128 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 870 crore.
Earnings On April 13
Infosys, Den Networks, Lesha Industries will report their March quarter earnings on Wednesday.
Anand Rathi
Anand Rathi's profit jumped 184 per cent to Rs 126 crore in financial year 2021-22. Its assets under management advanced 23 per cent to Rs 32,906 crore.
TVS Motor Company
The company's subsidiary Swiss E-Mobility Group (Holding) AG has acquired 100 per cent in Alexand’Ro Edouard’O Passion Vélo Sàrl (“Passion Vélo”), primarily engaged in the sale of e-bikes as well as e-bike accessories across a range of premium e-bike brands such as TREK, Riese & Muller, Cannondale, Moustache and others.
Tata Steel
The company has acquired 100 per cent stake held by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in S&T Mining Company.
ICICI Bank
The bank's board will meet on April 23, 2022 to consider fund raising by way of issuance of debt securities.
March Inflation Data
Consumer price-based inflation jumped to 6.95 per cent in March from 6.07 per cent in February, mainly on account of costlier food items, according to government data released on Tuesday.
The inflation in the food basket was 7.68 per cent in March, up from 5.85 per cent in the preceding month.
This is the third consecutive month in which inflation has remained above the 6 per cent upper bound of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) mandate, averaging 6.4 per cent in January-March.
RBI, which mainly factors in the retail inflation while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy, has been tasked by the government to keep the inflation between 2 and 6 per cent.
February IIP Data
The factory output rose 1.7 per cent in February, mainly on account of rise in the mining sector and power generation.
According to the government data released on Tuesday, the manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 0.8 per cent.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had declined 3.2 per cent in February 2021.
The cumulative growth in April-February 2021-22 worked out to be 12.5 per cent. In the year-ago period, there was a contraction of 11.1 per cent.
