Stock Market News, Sensex fell by 344 points and Nifty dropped by 71 points
Indian equity markets continued to witness a downfall for the fifth consecutive session on March 15, with both the benchmark.
The Sensex fell by 344 points or 0.59%, settling at 57,556, while the Nifty dropped by 71 points or 0.42% to end at 16,972.
The decline was primarily attributed to selling pressure in the FMCG, realty, oil and gas, and financial sectors, while the Nifty metal index witnessed a gain of nearly 2%.
The mixed performance of different sectors indicates a volatile market sentiment, with investors closely monitoring the overall economic indicators to make informed investment decisions.
India’s trade deficit narrows to $17.43 billion
India’s exports have continued to decline for the third consecutive month, dropping by 8.8% to USD 33.88 billion in February 2023 compared to year on year basis, according to data released by the commerce ministry on March 15.
Meanwhile, imports also decreased by 8.21% to USD 51.31 billion in the same period.
However, India’s trade deficit for February 2023 came in at $17.43 billion, a slight improvement from $18.75 billion in the same period last year and marginally lower than the preceding month.
Despite the decline in merchandise exports, the service category recorded a significant jump of nearly 37% on-year to $36.85 billion. Combined with merchandise exports, both categories increased by 7.8% in February.
Mobile exports also showed significant growth of 50% in FY23, touching $8.3 billion by January-end, as per Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal.
India’s overall merchandise exports grew at around 7.5%, which is commendable in light of the World Trade Organization’s
Barthwal noted that the increase in India’s merchandise exports during this period of slowing growth globally is a positive development.
Credit Suisse shares sink 20%
Credit Suisse’s shares plummeted by a staggering 20.2% to below 2 Swiss francs, marking the first time it has dropped to such levels.
This drastic fall was triggered by Saudi National Bank’s announcement that it cannot exceed its 10% ownership of Credit Suisse due to regulatory restrictions.
The stock exchange operator had to halt trading of Credit Suisse shares multiple times as trading volumes surged and the stock continued to plummet.
This event also caused a domino effect on other European banks, as they experienced heavy losses in the market.
LIC has sold a 2% equity stake in state-owned NMDC.
On March 15, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) announced that it has sold a 2% equity stake in state-owned NMDC.
Reducing its total shareholding in the public sector unit from 13.69% to 11.69% between December 29, 2022 and March 14, 2023, at an average price of Rs 119.37 per share.
The sale generated over Rs 700 crore for LIC, and its shareholding in NMDC has now decreased from 40,14,72,157 to 34,25,97,574 equity shares.
Vedanta Ltd repaid USD 100 million to Standard Chartered Bank
Vedanta Ltd announced on March 15 that it has repaid USD 100 million to Standard Chartered Bank by releasing the encumbrance on March 10.
The repayment was made pursuant to a facility agreement dated September 8, 2022, between Twin Star Holding Limited, Vedanta Resources Limited, Welter Trading Limited, and Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited.
The aggregate facility amount was USD 100 million.
Vedanta Resources had previously announced that it had prepaid all its debt due for repayment until March 2023, thereby reducing its debt by USD 2 billion in the past 11 months.
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