Sensex, Nifty remain lower in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained lower in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in red terrain. Negative cues from other Asian markets also impacted domestic sentiments. Traders got cautious, amid a private report stating that India's retail inflation likely sped up to a 16-month high of 6.35% in March, well above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band for a third straight month, in part due to a sustained rise in food prices. Adding more worries, the US government said that India’s proposed data localisation requirements under which firms need to store data within India “will serve as significant barriers to digital trade” between the two countries.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after China's consumer price inflation accelerated more than expected in March and producer price inflation eased further. The official data showed that consumer price inflation rose to 1.5 percent in March from 0.9 percent in February, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59130.54, down by 316.64 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 58945.08 and 59333.18. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.78%, Power up by 2.75%, Oil & Gas up by 1.69%, Energy up by 1.01% and Basic Materials up by 0.85%, while IT down by 1.43%, TECK down by 1.29%, Capital Goods down by 0.49%, Consumer Durables down by 0.40% and FMCG down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.31%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.84%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.61%, NTPC up by 0.56% and Indusind Bank up by 0.53%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.59%, Wipro down by 2.49%, Infosys down by 2.47%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.63% and Power Grid down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution companies (discoms) to power producers increased by 17.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,23,244 crore in April 2022. According to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators), discoms owed a total of Rs 1,05,029 crore to power generation firms in April 2021. On a sequential basis too, total dues in April 2022 increased from Rs 1,17,390 crore in March 2022.

In April 2022, the total overdue amount, which was not cleared even after 45 days of grace period offered by generators, stood at Rs 1,04,885 crore as against Rs 84,376 crore in the same month a year ago. The overdue amount stood at Rs 1,03,331 crore in March 2022. Power producers give 45 days to discoms to pay bills for electricity supply. After that, outstanding dues become overdue and generators charge penal interest on that in most cases.

To give relief to power generation companies (gencos), the Centre enforced a payment security mechanism from August 1, 2019. Under this mechanism, discoms are required to open letters of credit for getting power supply. The Centre had also given some breather to discoms for paying dues to gencos in view of the COVID-19-induced lockdown. The government had also waived penal charges for the late payment of dues.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17713.35, down by 71.00 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 17653.55 and 17761.10. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.52%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.95%, JSW Steel up by 1.78%, ICICI Bank up by 1.18% and Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 1.09%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.60%, Wipro down by 2.51%, Infosys down by 2.46%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.92% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 535.64 points or 2.45% to 21,336.37, Nikkei 225 slipped 223.83 points or 0.83% to 26,761.97, Taiwan Weighted dropped 190.61 points or 1.1% to 17,093.93, Shanghai Composite declined 56.78 points or 1.75% to 3,195.07, Straits Times trembled 21.30 points or 0.63% to 3,361.98 and KOSPI fell 9.56 points or 0.35% to 2,690.83. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 29.07 points or 0.4% to 7,239.91.