Sensex, Nifty to open in red; Maruti, Future Retail, RIL, Tata Motors, Adani group shares in focus

Indian equity benchmarks are poised to open with sharp losses on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from Asian peers and negative finish at Wall Street overnight as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict continued to weigh on market sentiment. The spike in bond yields and strong rally in crude prices amid rising geo-political tensions also led to a decline in investors' risk appetite and prompted them to shift focus to safer assets such as gold and the dollar. The negative trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-down opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 219 points, or 1.3%, lower at 16,488 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:15 AM.

The markets were closed on Tuesday on the occasion of Mahashivratri. On Monday, the Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the second straight session amid late buying as Russia and Ukraine began talks at the Belarus border. The BSE Sensex fell over 1,000 points in the early deals but rebounded strongly to settle the day at 56,247, up 389 points, or 0.7%. In a similar trend, the NSE Nifty slipped 302 points in intraday trade, before closing 136 points, or 0.8%, higher at 16,794. On the sectoral front, the majority of indices closed in positive terrain, while metal and oil and gas sectors gained the most. The top gainers on the Sensex pack were Tata Steel, Power Grid Corporation of India, Reliance Industries, Titan Company and NTPC.

Stocks to focus

Auto stocks: Shares of automobile companies will be in focus as most of the firms released their monthly sales figure for February 2022. Barring Maruti and Hyundai Motor India, most of the auto companies such as Tata Motors, M&M reported growth on a year-on-year basis in February 2022.

Adani Group: Shares of billionaire Gautam Adani-led group companies will be focus after Adani Group acquire a minority stake in Quintillion Business Media Private Limited, a digital media group.

Aviation stocks: Shares of airline companies such as IndiGo, SpiceJet will be eyed after jet fuel prices rose 3.3% to hit an all-time high level on Tuesday. The steep rise in jet fuel prices, which makes up for almost 40% of the running cost of an airline, will impact earnings of carriers. This is the fifth hike in jet fuel or Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices this year following a record spike in international crude prices.

Lupin: The pharma major has launched Sevelamer Hydrochloride tablets (800 mg), used in the treatment of hyperphosphatemia patients with chronic kidney disease, in the U.S. market.

Piramal Enterprises: The multinational diversified global business conglomerate has received approval from administrative committee of its board to raise up to Rs 500 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis.

Future Retail, RIL: Kishore Biyani-led Future Group companies have received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to convene meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek their approval for deal with Reliance Industries. In 2020, Future Group had signed pact with Reliance Retail to sell its retail, logistics, and warehousing businesses for about ₹25,000 crore.

Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Wall Street retreats amid Ukraine woes

In the overnight trade, U.S. stocks closed lower as investors continued to gauge the global impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The strong rally in bond prices and crude oil also spooked investors’ sentiments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.76%, the S&P 500 shed 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite ended 1.59% lower.

Asian stocks follow Wall Street lower

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were reeling under selling pressure in early deals on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from Wall Street which finished lower overnight as the Russia-Ukraine crisis deepened further.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the worst performer in the region with a 1.7% loss, followed by the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong, which dropped 0.66%. South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.15%, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore shed 0.14%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen component and the Shanghai composite tumbled 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively, in early deals.

Bucking the trend, Australia’s ASX 200 index rose 0.15% and Indonesia Jakarta Composite added 0.36%.

Brent crude tops $110 as Ukraine crisis worsens

The crude oil prices breached $110 a barrel in early deals on Wednesday after Russian troops intensified their bombardment of Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in a major change of tactics as fights enters seventh day. There is fear in the market that harsh sanctions against Russia, one of key oil producer, will create supply disruptions, in an already a very tight market.

During the early Asian trading hours on Wednesday, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 4.25% to $107.8 a barrel, while the Brent oil futures rose 4.5% to $109.9 per barrel.

In the overnight trade, the U.S. oil benchmark, WTI spiked as much as 11.5% to hit a high of $106.78, before ending the session at $103.41, up 8.03%. Similarly, Brent crude touched a high of $107.57 per barrel, before settling with a 7.15% gain at $104.97.

GST collections jump 18% YoY in February

Monthly Goods and Service Tax (GST) revenue topped 1.3 lakh crore for the fifth straight month in February. The GST revenue collections in February rose 17.6% year-on-year to Rs 1.33 lakh crore, but was down 5.64% sequentially from the record high collection of Rs 1,40,986 crore in January. The finance ministry said that the GST collection for the month needs to be seen in the context of the partial lockdowns imposed during the month on account of the third wave of the pandemic and lesser number days in the month.

India’s GDP growth slips to 5.4% in Q3 FY22

India’s GDP growth slowed to 5.4% in the third quarter of 2021-22, down sequentially from 8.5% in the second quarter of the current financial year, according to the data released by the Centre on Monday. The GDP growth in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year was 0.7%. Sectorally, construction and manufacturing remained the pressure points in the quarter, while mining and electricity were among top performers. Also in the second advance estimate of national income, 2021-22, the ministry of statistics lowered the GDP estimate to 8.9% from 9.2% estimated in the first advance estimate of the national income released by the government on January 7.