Benchmarks trade marginally lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased some initial losses and were trading marginally lower in morning deals, due to losses in Realty, Consumer Durables and IT stocks. However,  losses remained capped  as traders took some support with Moody's Analytics’ statement that India's domestic economy, rather than trade, is its primary engine of growth and the slowdown in economic activity late last year will only be temporary. Some support also came as Finance Ministry data showed that there has been a rise of 133 per cent in collection of major cess and surcharges levied by the Central government on various products during the five-year period between 2017-18 and 2022-23, as it went up from Rs 2,18,553 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 5,10,549 crore in 2022-23.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers the U.S. central bank would be prepared to reaccelerate the pace of rate hikes if the economy grows too quickly. Back home, Power industry stocks remained in limelight as rating agency ICRA said India’s thermal plant load factor (PLF) improved to 64 percent in FY2023 from 58.9 percent in FY2022, driven by a strong recovery in electricity demand growth in the country.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60174.17, down by 50.29 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 59844.82 and 60205.56. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.44%, Power up by 1.32%, Capital Goods up by 1.13%, Oil & Gas up by 0.85%, Industrials up by 0.83% while, Realty down by 0.76%, Consumer Durables down by 0.67%, IT down by 0.53%, Metal down by 0.43% and TECK down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.81%, Tata Steel up by 1.09%, NTPC up by 0.62%, HDFC Bank up by 0.43% and HDFC up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.83%, Indusind Bank down by 1.08%, Sun Pharma down by 0.93%, Infosys down by 0.92% and Asian Paints down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA has said that it revised the thermal power sector outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ owing to strong demand growth and realisation of dues from discoms under LPS (late payment surcharge) scheme. The agency mentioned ‘The outlook for the thermal power segment has been revised to stable from negative, supported by the healthy improvement in the thermal PLF (plant load factor or capacity utilisation) level in FY2023, which is likely to sustain in FY2024, coupled with the reduction in dues from state distribution utilities (discoms).

It stated the PLF improvement is driven by the strong recovery in electricity demand growth in the country. A sustained growth in electricity demand is expected to improve the visibility on the signing of new power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the thermal IPPs (independent power producers). Vikram V, VP & Sector Head - corporate ratings, ICRA, said, the all-India thermal PLF level is expected to improve from 58.9% in FY2022 to 64.0% in FY2023 and further to 65.5% in FY2024, led by healthy demand growth and limited thermal capacity addition.

The full-year demand growth for FY2023 is estimated at 9.5-10%, which is likely to moderate in FY2024, though remaining healthy at 5.5-6%. Further, he stated that the power-generating companies are benefiting from the realisation of overdue from discoms under the late payment surcharge scheme notified by the power ministry in June 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17696.95, down by 14.50 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 17602.25 and 17711.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.71%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.82%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.66%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.40% and Tata Steel up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.88%, Hindalco down by 1.68%, Sun Pharma down by 1.06%, Indusind Bank down by 1.00% and Infosys down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 65.32 points or 0.41% to 15,792.57, Hang Seng declined 486.69 points or 2.37% to 20,047.79, Shanghai Composite weakened 11.08 points or 0.34% to 3,274.02, KOSPI dropped 31.95 points or 1.3% to 2,431.40, Jakarta Composite plunged 33.23 points or 0.49% to 6,733.53 and Straits Times fell 9.6 points or 0.3% to 3,235.67.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 139.4 points or 0.49% to 28,448.56.