The domestic equity benchmarks ended near the flat line, with some negative bias on Monday. The Nifty closed below the 16,250 mark. While metal stocks witnessed sharp sell-off, IT and auto shares managed to close in the green.

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 37.78 points or 0.07% to 54,288.61. The Nifty 50 index lost 51.45 points or 0.32% to 16,214.70.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.26% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.64%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,429 shares rose and 1,982 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were unchanged.

Persisting inflation worries, looming fears of sharp interest rates hikes and worsening the global economic outlook continued to weigh on investors' sentiment.

Economy:

On Saturday, the Centre had cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre to give relief to consumers battered by high fuel prices that have also pushed inflation to a multi-year high. The excise duty cut would translate into a reduction of Rs 9.5 a litre on petrol and Rs 7 a litre on diesel after taking into account its impact on other levies.

The government has waived customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry. The duty on exports of iron ore has been hiked up to 50% and on a few steel intermediaries to 15%, according to a notification. The duty changes will be effective from Sunday.

Andhra Pradesh has joined the Global Network of Advanced Manufacturing Hubs (AMHUBs) of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The state government and WEF exchanged the platform partnership on Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains.

An agreement to this effect was signed on the sidelines of the annual meeting of WEF which began at Davos on Sunday.

IPO Updates:

The initial public offer (IPO) of eMudhra received bids for 80,09,394 shares as against 1,13,64,784 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 15:18 IST on Monday (23 May 2022). The issue was subscribed 0.82 times.

The issue opened for bidding on Friday (20 May 2022) and it will close on Tuesday (24 May 2022). The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 243-256 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 58 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index tumbled 8.14% to 5,241.60. The index had advanced 4.20% to end at 5,706.35 on Friday.

Jindal Steel & Power (down 17.39%), JSW Steel (down 13.24%), Tata Steel (down 12.61%), NMDC (down 12.50%) and SAIL (down 10.90%) tumbled.

Welspun Corp (down 8.74%), Hindustan Copper (down 4.62%), APL Apollo Tubes (down 3.78%), Hindalco Industries (down 3.72%), National Aluminum Company (down 3.08%) and Vedanta (down 2.78%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Divi's Laboratories was locked in 10% lower circuit. The company's standalone net profit rose 81% to Rs 883 crore on 45.20% increase in net sales to Rs 2495.03 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Power Grid Corporation of India fell 2.03%. The state-run company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 4,156.44 crore in Q4 FY22 as compared to net profit of Rs 3,526.23 crore in Q4 FY21. Total income rose to Rs 11,067.94 crore from Rs 10,816.33 crore.

NTPC rose 0.13%. The company reported an 11.8% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,199.5 crore on a 23.2% rise in net sales to Rs 37,085.07 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21.

Shree Cement lost 0.10%. The cement maker reported a 17.7% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 657.24 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 798.43 crore posted in Q4 FY21. Consolidated net revenue from operations grew 3.1% year on year to Rs 4364.24 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022.

Thermax slumped 6.23%. The company reported 4.5% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 102.54 crore from Rs 107.35 crore in Q4 FY22 over Q4 FY21. The revenue from operations rose a 26.5% year on year to Rs 1,991.92 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022. Profit before tax fell 6.3% year on year to Rs 131.51 crore from Rs 140.38 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2022.

One 97 Communications (Paytm) jumped 7.31%. The company reported a consolidated net loss to Rs 763 crore in Q4 March 2022, higher than net loss of Rs 441.80 crore in Q4 March 2021. Its consolidated revenue from operations grew 89% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 1,540.90 crore in the quarter under review compared with Rs 815.30 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Cochin Shipyard surged 6.12%. The company's consolidated net profit rose 16.26% to Rs 274.62 crore on 12.23% increase in net sales to Rs 1212.49 crore in Q4 March 2022 over Q4 March 2021.

Tata Power Company on Monday announced that it has teamed up with Tata Motors for development of a 7 Megawatt peak (MWp) solar rooftop project at Tata Motors' Passenger Vehicle Plant in Pune. This is the third phase of a joint 17 MWp on-site solar project developed by the two companies, of which a 10 MWp has been installed earlier.

Shares of Tata Power Company shed 1.67% while Tata motors advanced 0.49%.

JK Tyre advanced 1.56%. The tyre maker posted a 78.8% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 38.65 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 182.48 crore posted in Q4 FY21. Consolidated net sales grew 13.1% to Rs 3,311.83 crore for the quarter ended 31 March 2022 from Rs 2,927.28 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last year.

Jyoti Structures was locked in 5% upper circuit. The company has secured contracts from MPSEZ Utilities for turnkey supply and erection of transmission line at Mundra SEZ. The total value of contracts is Rs. 55 crore. The project is to be completed in 4 months.

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones index futures were up 200 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stocks later today.

Shares in Europe mostly advanced while Asian markets mostly ended higher on Monday. Concerns continued to linger over slowdown in global economic growth and hawkish statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Powell.

The Fed Chair said that the central bank would notch up interest rates as high as needed taking rates above neutral (rate at which economic activity is neither simulated nor constrained) to curb soaring inflation.

The World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos this week, bringing together political and business leaders from around the world. This year's summit comes after several years of Covid-19 pandemic and amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is expected to feature at the top of the agenda.

In a move to raise its economic profile and create another counterbalance to China within Asia, the United States announced on Monday the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with Asian partners including Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

It's a broad plan designed to help expand the U.S.′ “economic leadership” in the Indo-Pacific region. The group wants to set international rules on the digital economy, supply chains, decarbonization and regulations applying to workers.

The U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, prompting thanks from the democratic, self-ruled island — but sharp criticism from China.

When asked at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida whether the U.S. would be prepared to defend Taiwan if attacked, Biden reportedly replied: “Yes.”

Wall Street ended mixed on Friday after a volatile session that saw Tesla slump and other growth stocks also lose ground.

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