Bourses trade flat in late afternoon session

In extremely volatile trading session, local equities market traded flat in late afternoon session following Adani Group’s newsflow. Traders were seen piling up positions in IT and TECK sectors, while selling was witnessed in Metal and Oil & Gas sectors’ stocks. The broader indices, Small cap index remained in green, while BSE Mid cap index traded with losses. Traders were cautious as both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points each later in the day.  On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after the U.S. Federal Reserve said that 'disinflationary process has started' but 'ongoing increases' in rates will be needed to curb price pressures. European markets were trading higher as investors digested the latest move by the U.S. Federal Reserve and look ahead to more decisions by central banks in Europe.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59830.70, up by 122.62 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 59215.62 and 59943.17. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.85%, TECK up by 1.44%, IT up by 1.41%, Realty up by 0.51% and Industrials was up by 0.44%, while Utilities down by 3.73%, Power down by 3.44%, Oil & Gas down by 2.18%, Energy down by 1.90% and Metal was down by 1.00% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 4.08%, Indusind Bank up by 2.61%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.35%, Infosys up by 1.83% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.21%, NTPC down by 2.12%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.90%, HDFC down by 1.82% and Power Grid down by 1.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, former Niti Aayog Vice Chairperson Arvind Panagariya has said India is on the cusp of returning to a high growth trajectory and voiced confidence that the country will become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027-28. He said India is currently in a spot that it was in 2003 when the growth rate picked up to close to about 8 per cent and the country sustained that kind of rate for a few years. Outlining his reasons for high growth ahead, he said several reforms have been implemented and weaknesses in the economy have been cleaned up during the COVID pandemic such as non-performing assets of banks and weak balance sheets of many of the big corporates.

Noting that balance sheets of banks and corporates are now pretty sound, Panagariya said this is reflected in the investment proposals and investment commitments that are being made by many of the large corporates. He said ‘we're seeing this surge in both public and private investments, the fact that policy reforms have happened, lots of infrastructure has been built up. And the fact that there is an effective government in place, very credible (government).’

He further said India will certainly remain the fastest-growing major economy for several years to come. He projected that 'India would maintain about a 7 per cent growth rate over these years and if the country takes measures to open up the economy further, particularly on the trade front with liberalisation requiring ‘a good bit of knocking down of the customs duties’, then we could get to easily 8 per cent.' He said the rest of the strengths for achieving this growth are present in the system. Some of the reforms that are ongoing need to be implemented, for instance, the labour law reform.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17591.95, down by 24.35 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 17445.95 and 17653.90. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 4.28%, Britannia up by 4.26%, Indusind Bank up by 2.77%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.24% and Infosys up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 22.03%, Adani Ports down by 6.27%, UPL down by 6.02%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 5.60% and Eicher Motors down by 2.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted added 175.03 points or 1.12% to 15,595.16, Nikkei 225 surged 55.17 points or 0.2% to 27,402.05, Jakarta Composite gained 28.31 points or 0.41% to 6,890.57, KOSPI increased 19.08 points or 0.77% to 2,468.88 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.75 points or 0.02% to 3,285.67. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 18.73 points or 0.56% to 3,358.92 and Hang Seng was down by 113.82 points or 0.52% to 21,958.36.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 46.56 points or 0.6% to 7,807.67, France’s CAC rose 79.57 points or 1.11% to 7,156.68 and Germany’s DAX was up by 232.37 points or 1.51% to 15,413.11.