Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green

Indian stock markets continued to trade in positive terrain in late morning session as retail inflation eased marginally last month. Retail inflation or Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 7.04 per cent in May, mainly on account of softening food and fuel prices as the government as well as the RBI stepped in to control spiralling price rise by way of duty cuts and repo rate hike. Some support also came India Exim Bank stating that the country's total merchandise exports are likely to be at $117.2 billion in the first quarter of FY23, as compared to the total merchandise exports of $95.5 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower after Wall Street hit a confirmed bear market milestone and Treasury yields struck their highest in more than a decade on fears aggressive interest rate hikes would push the world's largest economy into recession.

Back home, buying in frontline stocks such as NTPC, Power Grid and Ultratech Cement were aiding sentiment, while selling in Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki and Asian Paints kept the gains in the markets in check.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53050.95, up by 204.25 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 52459.48 and 53095.32. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.64%, Realty up by 1.61%, Power up by 1.60%, Metal up by 1.39% and Industrials was up by 1.15%, while Energy down by 0.35% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.30% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.05%, Power Grid up by 1.93%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.93%, Tata Steel up by 1.90% and Infosys was up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52%, Asian Paints down by 0.49%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.32% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ICRA Ratings in its latest report has said that non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance Companies (HFCs) witnessed an improvement in their asset quality in the fourth quarter of FY22 (Q4FY22) as the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was minimal and the slippage from the restructured book was lower. It said the gross stage 3 assets (loans overdue for more than 90 days) for NBFCs reduced to 4.4 per cent in March 2022 from 5.7 per cent in December 2021. It also said HFCs' gross stage 3 assets moderated and stood at 3.3 per cent vis-à-vis 3.6 per cent in December 2021.

The agency said that entities augmented their collections in view of the tighter Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provision (IRAC) norms, which are applicable from October 2022. It also said NBFC write-offs remained elevated and marginally higher than the last fiscal, while HFC write-offs were modest. It noted that the slippage from the restructured book, especially for NBFCs, was lower than expected, which also favourably contributed to the asset quality performance.

According to report, the standard restructured book of NBFCs is estimated to have reduced to 2.7-3 per cent in March 2022 from the peak of 4.5 per cent in September 2021, while the same for HFCs moderated to 1.4-1.6 per cent from 2.2 per cent during the above-mentioned period. The performance of this book would remain monitorable, considering the weakening macroeconomic/operating environment and the balloon repayment schedule of some of these loans. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15834.10, up by 59.70 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 15659.45 and 15858.00. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 3.09%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.55%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.75% and NTPC was up by 1.75%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 0.97%, Reliance Industries down by 0.97%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.79%, Asian Paints down by 0.70% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 11.29 points or 0.07% to 16,059.69, KOSPI fell 15.04 points or 0.6% to 2,489.47, Straits Times trembled 28.93 points or 0.92% to 3,110.42, Nikkei 225 slipped 385.24 points or 1.43% to 26,602.20, Hang Seng decreased 118.04 points or 0.56% to 20,949.54 and Shanghai Composite was down by 29.25 points or 0.9% to 3,226.30.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 1.04 points or 0.01% to 6,996.48.