Bourses add losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added losses in late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters. As for broader indices, Small cap index remained in green, while BSE Mid cap index continued to trade in red. Selling in Telecom, TECK and Realty counters pulled down the markets lower. Traders took note of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday defended the Reserve Bank's handling of the price situation, saying acting prematurely on inflation would have exerted a heavy cost on the economy and citizens. Acknowledging that the inflation target has been missed, Das said the RBI decided to support the economy by not introducing a rate hike in face of a spike in inflation. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following losses on Wall Street as forecast-beating US data jolted hopes the Federal Reserve could soon tone down its hawkish pace of interest rate hikes. European markets were trading higher on a boost from Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, while hopes grew that the U.S. Federal Reserve would signal a slowdown in its aggressive policy tightening cycle later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60795.47, down by 325.88 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 60794.71 and 61209.65. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.46%, Metal up by 0.36%, Oil & Gas up by 0.14% and Energy was up by 0.01%, while Telecom down by 1.26%, TECK down by 1.20%, Realty down by 1.11%, Auto down by 0.85% and IT was down by 0.85% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.63%, ITC up by 1.07%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.50%, Reliance Industries up by 0.50% and Wipro up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.96%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.36%, Infosys down by 1.64%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.51% and Nestle down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has maintained a stable outlook for the overall infrastructure sector for second half of this fiscal year (H2FY23). However, the agency revised the outlook on airports to stable from negative and maintained a negative outlook on wind power projects.

As per the report, infrastructure investment trusts continue to be the preferred pooled financing vehicle for divesting partial or entire stake and refinancing. Refinancing has been generally carried out to raise funds, elongate the tenor and/or release some sponsor investments. The impact of rising interest rates is also a key monitorable.

India Ratings and Research is expecting consistent demand growth and continued efforts to realise payments from distribution companies (discoms) in a timely manner to aid the growth, stable credit profiles and liquidity for energy infrastructure companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18051.25, down by 94.15 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 18048.65 and 18178.75. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.85%, Hindalco up by 1.82%, Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, ITC up by 1.22% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.03%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.73%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.43%, Eicher Motors down by 1.92% and Infosys down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 371.90 points or 2.41% to 15,827.17, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 62.96 points or 0.48% to 13,100.17, Shanghai Composite gained 34.17 points or 1.15% to 3,003.37 and KOSPI was up by 1.65 points or 0.07% to 2,336.87. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 0.95 points or 0.03% to 3,129.55, Nikkei 225 slipped 15.53 points or 0.06% to 27,663.39 and Jakarta Composite was down by 36.61 points or 0.52% to 7,015.69.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 6.04 points or 0.08% to 7,192.20, France’s CAC increased 39.13 points or 0.62% to 6,367.38 and Germany’s DAX was up by 28.72 points or 0.22% to 13,367.46.