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Easing WPI inflation fails to support sentiments over Dalal Street
Feb-14-2025

An easing WPI inflation failed to support sentiments over the Dalal Street, with both Sensex and Nifty trading near their intraday low points. Positive cues from other Asian markets also failed to provide relief to traders. Inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) in India slowed down in the month of January to 2.31% as against 2.37% recorded in December 2024, aided with easing prices of food articles. The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, decreased 2.01% to 189.9 (provisional) in January 2025 from 193.8 (provisional) for the month of December 2024, on account of decline in prices of food articles. Sentiments remained downbeat, as U.S. President Donald Trump said that BRICS nations could face 100% tariffs from the United States 'if they want to play games with the dollar.'

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as Malaysia's economy expanded more than previously estimated in the fourth quarter on household spending and investment. Gross domestic product expanded 5.0 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter. This was revised up from the prior estimate of 4.8 percent and follows 5.4 percent growth registered in the third quarter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75676.91, down by 462.06 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 75530.59 and 76483.06. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index plunged by 2.52%, while Small cap index was down by 3.22%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare down by 2.94%, Industrials down by 2.68%, Basic Materials down by 2.29%, Capital Goods down by 2.24% and Consumer Durables down by 2.17%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 0.68%, HCL Tech. up by 0.33%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.25%, ICICI Bank up by 0.14% and TCS up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.97%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.85%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.79%, Indusind Bank down by 1.97% and NTPC down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended imposition of an anti-dumping duty of up to $681 per tonne on imports of a Chinese chemical used in paper and paint industry. The imposition of the duty would guard domestic producers of 'Titanium Dioxide' from cheap Chinese imports. In its final findings, the DGTR has concluded that the chemical has been exported to India at a price below the normal value, resulting in dumping.

The notification of the directorate said the imports have had a considerable impact on suppressing the prices of the domestic industry. Accordingly, the authority recommends imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on the imports. The recommended duty ranges between $460 per tonne and $681 per tonne. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose duties. The DGTR conducted the probe following applications regarding the same from Kerala Minerals and Metals, Travancore Titanium Products, and VV Titanium Pigments. Titanium dioxide is the brightest and whitest of the known pigments and it is used in various industries, including paints and coatings, plastics, papers, rubbers and inks.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). Both India and China are members of the multilateral organisations, which deals with global trade norms. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22865.30, down by 166.10 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 22815.10 and 23133.70. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 0.74%, Tata Consumer Products up by 0.64%, HCL Tech. up by 0.50%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.45% and TCS up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 3.94%, Adani Enterprises down by 3.41%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.23%, Shriram Finance down by 3.16% and Sun Pharma down by 2.87% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 585.06 points or 2.61% to 22,399.43, Jakarta Composite gained 9.53 points or 0.14% to 6,623.10, Shanghai Composite strengthened 12.92 points or 0.39% to 3,345.40 and KOSPI increased 7.88 points or 0.3% to 2,591.05, while Straits Times fell 6.15 points or 0.16% to 3,876.43, Nikkei 225 slipped 312.04 points or 0.8% to 39,149.43 and Taiwan Weighted lost 246.8 points or 1.07% to 23,152.61.
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