Markets trade flat with positive bias in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial losses and were trading flat with a positive bias in morning deals, led by gains in Auto, Metal and Healthcare stocks. Traders took some support with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s statement that the government has taken several supply-side measures to tame rising inflation. Chaudhary stated the price situation of major essential commodities is monitored by the government on a regular basis and corrective action is taken from time to time. Some support also came as Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad stated that concrete steps taken by the government and RBI helped banks recover bad loans worth over Rs 8.6 lakh crore in the last eight financial years. However, gains remain capped with private report stating that it has cut its FY23 real GDP expansion estimate for India by 0.40 per cent to 7.2 per cent on slower global growth. It said the GDP growth will slow down to 6.4 per cent in FY24, adding that this is lower by 0.30 per cent compared to the earlier estimate.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as traders continued to worry about the economic outlook ahead of next week's US Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. Back home, road and construction sector stocks remained in watch as rating agency Crisil said India’s national highway construction will likely reach only 32-34 km per day during the current financial year as input prices are expected to remain elevated. It expects the pace of highway construction to pick up post monsoon.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54573.45, up by 52.30 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 54232.82 and 54588.27. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.76%, Metal up by 0.67%, Healthcare up by 0.58%, PSU up by 0.56% and Realty up by 0.53%, while TECK down by 0.12%, Oil & Gas down by 0.12%, IT down by 0.10% and FMCG down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.60%, Tata Steel up by 1.54%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.36%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.74% and Axis Bank up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.08%, Infosys down by 0.84%, HCL Technologies down by 0.70%, Asian Paints down by 0.60% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that India's national highway (NH) construction will likely reach only 32-34 km per day during the current financial year as input prices are expected to remain elevated. Further, the agency said it expects the pace of highway construction to pick up post monsoon.

It stated national highway projects hit a speed bump in the first quarter of this fiscal, with awarding by the Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways (MoRTH), including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), falling a sharp 42 per cent on-year to 969 km. It added construction also slackened, down 14 per cent on-year to 1,966 km, translating to 22 km per day, as a surge in input prices led to developers delaying procurement of materials.

It mentioned that India's national highway construction slowed to 28.64 km a day in 2021-22, due to COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions and a longer-than-usual monsoon in some parts of the country. The pace of national highway construction in the country had touched a record 37 km per day in 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16291.45, up by 12.95 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 16187.05 and 16298.00. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 1.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.56%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.41%, Eicher Motors up by 1.20% and Apollo Hospital up by 1.06%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.15%, Nestle down by 1.11%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.96%, Tata Consumer Product down by 0.89% and Infosys down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 240.54 points or 1.15% to 20,605.64, Taiwan Weighted dropped 44.40 points or 0.3% to 14,675.24, KOSPI fell 10.32 points or 0.43% to 2,364.93, Shanghai Composite declined 9.58 points or 0.29% to 3,268.52 and Straits Times trembled 0.62 points or 0.02% to 3,121.14.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 49.81 points or 0.75% to 6,709.06 and Nikkei 225 surged 168.49 points or 0.63% to 26,956.96.