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Indian benchmark equity indices opened weak on Monday, led by negative macro data which came in after market hours on Friday. India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 5.03% in February, data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed on Friday. The retail inflation was 4.06% in January 2021 and was 6.58% in February 2020.

Separately, India’s factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a contraction of 1.6% in January 2021. The industrial output rose by 1% in December 2020 and grew by 2% in January 2020.

Sensex fell 130 points to open at 50,661; while the broader market index Nifty50 opened at 14,992 losing 38 points.

24 of 30 Sensex stocks traded in the red. HDFC twins, Bajaj Finance, SBI & Bajaj Finserv lost over 1% on the Sensex. On the upside, Powergrid, ONGC, Maruti, HUL & Titan were the top gainers.

Sectorally, Nifty Metal was down 0.59%, Nifty Bank lost 0.55% while Nifty Pharma fell 0.24%. Nifty IT & Nifty Realty were trading with gains of over 0.10% while Nifty Auto & Nifty FMCG opened flat.

Bears had upper-hand over the bulls in the opening trade. As 1,120 shares declined compared to 626 shares advanced while 514 shares remained unchanged on the NSE.

Stocks in spotlight

MTAR Technologies will make its market debut on Monday.

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) has recorded 18% growth Year on Year (Y-o-Y) in steel production with 6.53 lakh tones in February 2021 as compared to 5.54 lakh tonnes in the previous year. The company also reported a 14% y-o-y growth in shipments to 5.45 lakh tonnes as compared to 4.80 lakh tonnes in the previous year. While shipments were 6% lower Month on Month (m-o-m), on a per-day basis, shipments were 4% higher m-o-m. Exports accounted for 26% of the total sales volumes.

Dabur India has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary company namely Herbodynamic India. This new subsidiary company will engage in the business of manufacturing, sale and export of consumer care products.

Orient Bell has launched its all-new wall range-Eleganz and new designs and colours for the Coimbatore market after over two years. The theme of the launch is to break the norm and it is brought to life by designs that can be laid differently on a wall compared to usual designs in the market. The new Eleganz range also includes designs that can be laid vertically, which is another feature that breaks the traditional norms of the horizontal laying of tiles.

Central Depository Services (India) (CDSL) has received approval from IFSCA for the formation of a proposed subsidiary – CDSL IFSCA with an initial net worth of Rs 5 crore, which should be enhanced to Rs 25 crore within a period of 5 years keeping in view the operations.

SBI Cards and Payment Services (SBI Card) has received approval for raising funds by way of issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 2,000 crore. The company will raise the money in one or more tranches over a period of time. The board of directors of the company, at its meeting held on March 12, 2021, has approved the same.

GOCL Corporation is planning to raise funds by way of a private placement of Redeemable Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) to be issued in one or more tranches as may be decided by the board of directors or a committee thereof from time to time. The meeting of the board of directors scheduled to be held on March 18, 2021, to approve and consider the same.

Rossell India has signed an agreement to sell its smallest property of the tea business, Bokakhat Tea Estates, situated at Jorhat in Assam, having a production base of about 4.80 lakh Kgs of Black Tea. The sale of the said tea estate shall not have any significant impact on the profitability of the company.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks markets are trading mixed on Monday ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting stateside.
The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet on March 16 and 17 and it is reportedly expected that the U.S. central bank may revise up its GDP forecast, following a $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package that will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans.

US stocks closed mixed on Friday. The blue-chip Dow powered to its fifth consecutive record high on Friday and the S&P 500 closed slightly higher as investors bought shares that should benefit from a strong reopening of the U.S. economy.