Sensex, Nifty remain volatile in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained volatile in late morning session, but both Sensex and Nifty trading marginally higher, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got some support, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that history has been scripted, as India achieved its highest ever goods export target of USD 400 billion nine days ahead of schedule. However, trade was volatile, as IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that new International Monetary Fund forecasts due in April will show that the war in Ukraine will slow global economic growth, but will not cause a global recession.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after producer prices in South Korea were up 8.4 percent on year in February, the Bank of Korea said on Wednesday - slowing from 8.9 percent in January. Individually, prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products fell 6.6 percent on year, while manufacturing products jumped 14.0 percent, utilities climbed 12.0 percent and services rose 2.5 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58042.93, up by 53.63 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 57937.01 and 58416.56. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.41%, Power up by 1.29%, Healthcare up by 0.96%, IT up by 0.56% and Consumer Durables up by 0.38%, while Auto down by 0.43%, Capital Goods down by 0.34%, Bankex down by 0.14%, Metal down by 0.10% and Basic Materials down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 3.49%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.31%, ITC up by 1.08%, HCL Tech up by 0.82% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.58%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.18%, Asian Paints down by 1.03% and HDFC down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Power Minister RK Singh has said that total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution companies (discoms) to power producers stood at Rs 1 lakh crore at the end of February 2022. The outstanding amount of the discoms becomes overdue after 45 days of raising the bill for supply of power by gencos.

The minister explained that the government has made several interventions to improve financial and operational efficiencies of discoms linked to reform measures, including Liquidity Infusion Scheme (LIS); Additional Borrowing of 0.5 per cent of GSDP to states linked to power sector reforms; introducing additional prudential norms for lending by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and REC based on the performance of utilities; and Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).

Further, he said the government had also issued an order dated June 28, 2019, enforcing opening and maintaining of adequate Letter of Credit (LC) as payment security mechanism under power purchase agreement (PPA) by Distribution Licensees. The order mandates NLDC (National Load Dispatch Centre) and RLDC (regional load dispatch centres) to dispatch power only after it is intimated by GENCO and discom confirming the opening of LC.

Singh stated that these reform measures will improve the financial health of discoms, which will improve the liquidity situation leading to a reduction in outstanding dues to power generating companies (GENCOS). He also informed the House that as per projections of the Central Electricity Authority, the share of coal-based thermal power generation capacity in the year 2030 would be around 32 per cent in the energy mix as against the present share of 52 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17338.15, up by 22.65 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17302.85 and 17442.40. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 3.56%, Divi's Lab up by 2.07%, Hindalco up by 1.35%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.33% and ITC up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.76%, Britannia down by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.48%, Coal India down by 1.47% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 787.22 points or 2.89% to 28,011.33, Hang Seng increased 378.48 points or 1.73% to 22,267.76, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 103.25 points or 0.59% to 17,662.96, Straits Times advanced 17.76 points or 0.53% to 3,367.93 and KOSPI rose 16.84 points or 0.62% to 2,726.84. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 4.54 points or 0.14% to 3,255.32 and Jakarta Composite lost 12.31 points or 0.18% to 6,988.51.