Sensex, Nifty trade flat; broader markets perform better

Indian equity benchmarks traded flat with a negative bias in late morning session amid subdued Asian markets. Traders remained cautious as the RBI cut the economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.7 percent from its August forecast of 7.3 percent in view of issues with GST implementation and lower Kharif output estimates. Further, selling in Telecom, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables stocks too weighed on the sentiments. Some concerns also came with the report that coal shipments handled by major Indian ports in August fell over 14 percent from a year earlier to 9.3 million tonnes, as demand for overseas coal declined due to higher domestic production. However, the broader markets showed some fervor and traded with notable gains, performing better than their larger peers. Besides, losses were limited with the report stating that activity in India's services companies limped out of contraction in September as demand recovered and pushed firms to increase hiring at the fastest pace in over six years. The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 50.7 in September from 47.5 in August.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red with some retailers faltering after lower-than-expected sales data weakened the confidence of customers. Back home, in scrip specific development, Nihar Info Global touched the roof after the company signed an agreement with Get up For Change Services, Bangalore which deliver services to the customers regarding RTI, First Appeal and Second Appeal. Besides, the company will soon launch the Nihar Market eCenters across India in all the Rural, Semi Urban and the Urban Centers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31652.95, down by 18.76 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 31632.60 and 31772.41. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.88%, Healthcare up by 0.75%, Basic Materials up by 0.39%, Consumer Disc up by 0.30% and Auto up by 0.25%, while Telecom down by 1.03%, Oil & Gas down by 0.73%, Consumer Durables down by 0.44%, PSU down by 0.41% and Energy down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.70%, NTPC up by 0.89%, Cipla up by 0.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.65% and Lupin up by 0.48%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.03%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.98%, ICICI Bank down by 0.92%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.84% and Axis Bank down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest report has said that capacity for renewable energy in India is expected to more than double by the end of 2022. It also pointed out that this growth would be sufficient to overtake European Union in renewable energy expansion. Besides, it found that wind and solar PV together accounted for more than 90 percent of India's capacity growth as auctions yielded some of the world's lowest prices for both technologies.

The Paris-based agency further highlighted that earlier this year, the solar and wind power tariffs dropped sharply to an all-time low of Rs 2.44 per unit and Rs 3.46 per unit in tariff based competitive bidding conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). Besides, it said that India's move to address the financial health of its utilities and tackle grid-integration issues drive a more optimistic forecast. It also observed that the renewables will continue to have a strong growth in coming years and will grow by about 1,000 GW by 2022, which equals about half of the current global capacity in coal power, which took 80 years to build.

The report also expects that solar PV capacity growth will be higher than any other renewable technology through 2022. It noted that three countries - China, India and the United States - will account for two-thirds of global renewable expansion by 2022. It added that total solar PV capacity by then would exceed the combined total power capacities of India and Japan today. As per the recent government data, the country’s renewable energy installed capacity is 58.30 GW. Besides, the government has up-scaled the target of renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by the year 2022 which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9906.05, down by 8.85 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 9898.45 and 9945.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.14%, Yes Bank up by 2.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.79%, HCL Tech. up by 1.57% and Cipla up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.76%, HPCL down by 1.97%, BPCL down by 1.89%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.60% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite decreased 35.21 points or 0.59% to 5,916.26, Nikkei 225 decreased 13.55 points or 0.07% to 20,613.11 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.35 points or 0.19% to 1,758.49. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 48.92 points or 0.47% to 10,518.27.