Equity indices extend losses, fall marginally in morning session

Domestic equity benchmark indices extended their losses from the previous week and declined marginally in the morning session on Monday.

At 9.34 a.m., Sensex was at 51,264.49 points, down 95.93 points or 0.19 per cent, whereas nifty at15,242.20 points, down 51.30 points or 0.34 per cent.

With Monday's decline, the indices have been on a negative note for over a week now. The ongoing fall in indices is on account of inflation worries across the globe, including the US, and its subsequent monetary policy actions by several central banks.

Among the individual stocks, Hindalco, ONGC, Tata Steel, Coal India, and JSW Steel were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 companies, while Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, and Apollo Hospitals were the top five gainers, National Stock Exchange data showed.

For fresh cues, the latest rise in the Covid caseload and the progress of monsoon in the country will be monitored closely by the market participants.

Further, other Asian markets are trading in red on Monday amid worries that the US Fed would this week underline its commitment to fighting inflation with aggressive policy rate hikes if needed, said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS at Hem Securities.

Last week, Indian domestic equity benchmark indices closed on a negative note. Domestic equity benchmark indices are likely to trade with a downside bias this week as the aggressive monetary policy stance by the US Fed potentially triggered the fear of a recession.

The US central bank last week raised the key policy rates by a steep 75 basis points, against expectations of 50 basis points hike to address the multi-decadal high inflation in the country. Typically, high inflation in advanced countries, especially in the US, has a negative bearing on other emerging markets, including India.

In India too, retail inflation has been over the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for the fifth consecutive month in a row, while the Indian central bank projects that it would stay high till the third quarter of the current financial year, before moderating. Besides, domestic wholesale inflation has been in double-digit for over a year now.

During the last week, the benchmark index Sensex declined nearly 3 per cent, while it lost over 13 per cent since the start of 2022.

As there are no other major domestic or international macroeconomic events this week, the Indian indices are expected to be jittery, moving in tandem with the global peers, said Yesha Shah, Head of Equity Research at Samco Securities, adding that investors should therefore remain cautious and begin making small, selective investments in fundamentally superior companies that are available at reasonable valuations.

(ANI)

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