Bourses continue to trade in negative zone

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the afternoon session, with the Sensex losing over 300 points and Nifty falling below the 17300 level. Selling pressure in the realty and telecom stocks influenced the markets. Further, depreciation in the rupee also dampened the sentiment. Traders were worried as government data showed that India's foreign direct investment to gross domestic product ratio eased to 2.7% in fiscal year ending March. 31, 2022 from 3.1% in the previous financial year. Some anxiety also came as road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the total outstanding debt of state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stood at around Rs 3.49 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022. He noted that the fund required by NHAI for debt servicing in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be Rs 31,282 crore, Rs 31,909 crore and Rs 30,552 crore, respectively. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher mirroring gains of the Wall Street overnight after the release of upbeat corporate earnings and better than expected US Services sector activity data and manufactured goods figures.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58048.64, down by 301.89 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 57577.05 and 58712.66. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.87%, IT up by 0.57%, Healthcare up by 0.49%, Basic Materials up by 0.39% and TECK was up by 0.38%, while Realty down by 1.75%, Telecom down by 1.54%, PSU down by 1.35%, Utilities down by 1.20% and Power down by 1.09% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.62%, Nestle up by 1.17%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.77%, Tata Steel up by 0.56% and ITC up by 0.47%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.57%, SBI down by 1.88%, Reliance Industries down by 1.86%, Power Grid down by 1.28% and Titan Company was down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency ICRA Ratings has revised the growth estimate for Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) to 10-12 per cent for FY23 from an earlier projection of 9-11 per cent. It noted that the upwards revision of the growth of HFCs was in expectation of a continued improvement in disbursements. It said after witnessing disruptions in the business volumes, because of the second wave of the pandemic, the industry saw a recovery in the disbursements and HFC's portfolio growth rate started increasing during the last few quarters.

According to the report, the on-book portfolio of the Non-Banking Financial Companies-Housing Finance Companies (NBFC-HFC) sector grew to Rs 12.2 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022, registering 11 per cent year-on-year growth. The growth was slightly better than the agency's growth estimate of 8-10 per cent for FY22. This was driven by the growth in disbursements in the last three quarters of FY22 as the second wave of the pandemic had impacted the business volumes in the first quarter of FY22. The industry also saw a reduction in its Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs) in the fourth quarter of FY22 after having witnessed an increase in the third quarter of same fiscal.

Rating agency further said the tighter regulations (Reserve Bank of India's notification - Prudential norms on Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning pertaining to Advances Clarifications dated November 12, 2021) on the recognition and upgradation of GNPAs led to an increase in GNPAs in the third quarter of FY22. However, it said with the increased recoveries, the industry saw a reduction in GNPAs in the fourth quarter of last fiscal. It witnessed good recoveries from the restructured book and with growth in the Assets Under Management (AUM), the standard restructured book declined to around 1.7 per cent of AUM as on March 31, 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17272.30, down by 115.85 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 17161.25 and 17490.70. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.99%, JSW Steel up by 1.78%, Cipla up by 1.39%, Infosys up by 1.22% and Nestle was up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 3.30%, NTPC down by 3.07%, Coal India down by 2.48%, Reliance Industries down by 2.24% and SBI was down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Shanghai Composite gained 18.48 points or 0.58% to 3,182.15, Straits Times advanced 13.53 points or 0.42% to 3,265.59, Nikkei 225 surged 190.30 points or 0.69% to 27,932.20, Jakarta Composite soared 20.33 points or 0.29% to 7,066.97, KOSPI rose 11.66 points or 0.47% to 2,473.11 and Hang Seng was up by 330.45 points or 1.67% to 20,097.54.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted was down by 74.82 points or 0.51% to 14,702.20.