Markets Turn Back To Green

The Indian benchmark indices started the fortnight lower owing to a substantial decline in the information technology sector, primarily due to Infosys Ltd. The shares of Infosys slumped over 10 per cent in a single session due to heavy selling pressure after the company’s bottom-line and top-line fell short of expectations despite reporting considerable growth. In contrast, the shares of Wipro Ltd. soared more than 6 per cent over the past two weeks as the board of directors approved the largest-ever share buyback in size. With their reliable uptrends, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies also attempted to make up for losses. 

As a result, the sectoral index BSE Information Technology managed to end the fortnight with gains. While achieving outstanding success in the March quarter, major businesses from their respective industries, including Nestle India, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, helped to boost the indices. Consequently, both the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 had much-needed rallies, surging 2.01 and 2.02 per cent, respectively, over the past two weeks. For a majority of the time, the advance-decline ratio remained in favour of advances, indicating the upbeat mood in broader markets which led the BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap indices to post gains of about 2.5 per cent each. 

After a long time all the sectors gained thanks to optimistic investor sentiment, which was clearly evident by the sizeable FII and DII inflow amid announcement of robust quarter results. BSE Realty maintained its position as the bestperforming sector with gains of 3.55 per cent. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. led the rally with more than 27 per cent gains while shares of DLF Ltd. continued the upsurge and reached a new 52-weekhigh. The growth in new home bookings, appealing rental yields and the likelihood of future price appreciation are all driving the sector’s optimism.

After a long time, all the sectors gained thanks to the upbeat investor mood, which was evidenced by the sizeable FII and DII inflow amid the release of robust quarter results

Significant buying interest was also observed in the fast moving consumer goods, oil and gas and power sectors whereas metals and healthcare sectors gained the least. In other developments, data issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated that India’s Wholesale Price Index (WPI)- based inflation fell to a 29 month low of 1.34 per cent in March 2023. The Reserve Bank of India’s supplement showed that India’s foreign exchange reserves decreased from over nine-month highs and were USD 584.25 billion for the week ending April 21. Surprisingly, both FIIs and DIIs have been net buyers over the last fortnight. In the last 15 days, FII inflows totalled `752.08 crore while DII inflows recorded `4,900.52 crore.