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Benchmark indices were trading flat amid volatility during the afternoon on Monday.
Market opened on a positive note amid strong global cues. Indices turned flat, dragged by metals and PSU Bank stocks.
At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 60,772.64, up 85.95 points or 0.14 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 61,036.56 and a low of 60,635.63. The Nifty 50 was trading at 18,123.05, up 20.30 points or 0.11 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 18,210.15 and a low of 18,082.35.
Powergrid, UPL, ONGC, Cipla and Asian Paints were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Steel, M&M and Bajaj Auto were the top laggards.
Investor sentiments are impacted by valuation concerns. Most recently, two more global financial advisory firms have joined the downgrade bandwagon of Indian equities. Goldman Sachs and CLSA are the latest to advise investors to turn away from Indian stocks and book profits on valuation concerns.
October WPI at 12.54%
Market sentiments were further impacted by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) numbers. Wholesale inflation across the country surged to a five-month high of 12.54 per cent in October, up from 10.66 per cent in September, as per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
Retail inflation based on the CPI rose marginally to 4.48 per cent in October from 4.35 per cent the previous month. At the same time, industrial growth based on the IIP decelerated on a sequential basis to 2.5 per cent in September.
Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuité Ratings & Research said, “ The WPI print for Oct-21 highlights the underlying inflationary pressures in the economy.”
“There has been a steep sequential rise in inflation of primary articles and fuel and power which stood at 3.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively which clearly reflects the continuous rise in commodity prices including oil, coal and that of various metals. As seen in headline CPI, there has been a visible spurt in primary food articles due to the rise in vegetable and fruit prices; however, we believe this is likely to be transient in nature due to the arrival of the kharif crop in the market,” added Chowdhury.
Acuité expects a further pass through of input costs in manufactured goods as demand continues to improve. It further expects continuing supply-side bottlenecks, raw material shortages and high commodity prices to maintain the core inflation at such high levels, said Chowdhury.
Metals, PSU Bank stocks drag
On the sectoral front, metals, PSU Bank and auto faced pressure while healthcare, pharma, IT, FMCG and consumer durables gained.
Nifty Metal was down 1.35 per cent while Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.91 per cent. Nifty Auto was down 0.30 per cent.
Meanwhile, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index were up 0.92 per cent and 1.85 per cent respectively. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables were up 0.69 per cent and 0.76 per cent, respectively. Nifty IT was up 0.62 per cent.
Broader indices
Broader indices were in the green.
Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.17 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.21 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.31 per cent.
The S&P BSE Smallcap Index, however, was down 0.22 per cent.
The volatility index rose 1.83 per cent to 15.50.
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