Benchmarks continue to trade in green terrain in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green terrain in morning deals, led by gain in Healthcare, Metal and Realty stocks. Some support came in as Union Minister for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) Narayan Rane has launched the revamped Sustainable (ZED) Certification Scheme to facilitate MSMEs to adopt Zero Defect Zero Effect practices and become energy efficient while improving quality through increased compliance with manufacturing processes. Additionally, with an aim to reduce imports of the country, the commerce ministry has made a case for encouraging domestic manufacturing of 102 items like chemicals, electronic products and insulin injection as their share in the country’s total imports are high. According to an analysis of imports by the ministry, the 102 items are in huge demand in the country and are imported because domestic supplies are not adequate.  

On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green  thanks to a solid Wall Street session, but were still set for their worst month in two years, as China growth fears and looming U.S. rate hikes dragged on sentiment and sent the safe-haven dollar soaring. Back home, power stocks remained in watch with report that India's peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day touched the all-time high of 204.65 GW amid ongoing heatwave sweeping through vast swathes of the country increasing demand for electricity.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57708.50, up by 187.44 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 57544.48 and 57902.83. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.90%, Metal up by 0.70%, Realty up by 0.58%, Auto up by 0.45% and Basic Materials up by 0.41%, while Industrials down by 0.25%, Oil & Gas down by 0.25%, Energy down by 0.24%, PSU down by 0.15% and Capital Goods down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.46%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.41%, Tata Steel up by 1.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.44% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.19%, Wipro down by 1.35%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.91%, Asian Paints down by 0.59% and ITC down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said the government is likely to hold 5G spectrum auction in early June. Further, he said that the roll out of 5G services in the country will begin by August-September.

He mentioned that that the Department of Telecom is working as per expected timeline and the process is on to resolve industry concerns around spectrum pricing. Setting the stage for the rollout of 5G services, telecom regulator Trai has mooted a mega auction plan valued at over Rs 7.5 lakh crore at the base price across multiple bands for radio waves allocated over 30 years.

In case of 20 years, the total value of the proposed spectrum auction will stand at around Rs 5.07 lakh crore at the reserve price, according to the back-of-the-envelope calculation. While Trai has reduced spectrum price by about 39 per cent compared to last price, telecom operators have said that the recommended rates are higher than global benchmarks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17296.50, up by 51.45 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 17240.20 and 17349.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 3.00%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.57%, Sun Pharma up by 2.33%, Tata Steel up by 2.22% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.23%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 3.55%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.57%, Wipro down by 1.25% and Coal India down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 147.06 points or 0.9% to 16,566.44, KOSPI rose 27.98 points or 1.05% to 2,695.47, Straits Times advanced 27.04 points or 0.81% to 3,362.13, Shanghai Composite gained 11.06 points or 0.37% to 2,986.54 and Hang Seng increased 410.13 points or 2.02% to 20,686.30.