Markets trade volatile; Auto, IT, pharma stocks drag while oil -; gas, power stocks outperform

1 Apr 2022 , 09:54 AM

Indian markets traded flat amid high volatility during opening bells on Friday tracking weak global cues as investors bet cautiously focusing on developments of Russia-Ukraine peace talks. At the domestic front, auto, banking and financials, pharma sectors logged profit booking on the first day of financial year 2023 starting today.

At around 09:45 AM, Sensex was trading at 58,612.56 up by 44.05 points or 0.08%. Meanwhile, Nifty 50 was performing at 17,469.65 higher by 4.90 points or 0.03%.

In the opening session, Sensex has touched an intraday high of 58,686.17 and Nifty 50 the day’s high of 17,499.95.

Gainers on Sensex were – NTPC soaring by 4% followed by Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints surging around 1% each. Other major stocks such as M&M, Reliance, Tata Steel added marginal gains as well.

However, Infosys, Dr Reddys, Nestle, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech were top underperformers on Sensex plunging 1% each.

On the sectoral front, oil & gas, metal and power sectors rose 1-2% with BSE midcap and smallcap indices are also trading higher. However, Auto and metal stocks are in focus as companies will announce March sales and production data starting today.

Also, as per government released data, fiscal deficit hits 82.7% of full-target at February-end. At actual terms, the deficit stood at Rs13,16,595 crore at the end of February this year.

On the Asian front, Japanese “NIkkei” traded lower by 250 points while other markets also traded mildly lower following the weak US cues. 

Further, US markets see proof booking as it ends the 1st quarter of the year with losses after 2 years. This as Dow Jones closes lower by 500 points while Nasdaq loses over 200 points. Bond yields close near 2.33% while oil prices fall further as President Biden releases oil reserves to combat the rise in prices.