Bourses trade near day’s lowest points in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks traded near day’s lowest points in late afternoon session. Weakness in select IT, Banking and Oil& Gas counters dragged key gauges lower. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index turned negative. Investors looked ahead to the release of weekly jobless claims figures later in the day, Friday's jobs data and inflation figures due next week for additional clues on the U.S. rate outlook. Besides, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's message that interest rates would have to go higher and possibly faster to tame inflation dominated sentiment. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as concerns persisted about headwinds from rising global rates and China reported downbeat inflation data. European markets were trading lower as investors digested more Congress testimony from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59903.03, down by 445.06 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 59882.02 and 60467.09. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.85%, Power up by 0.62%, Utilities up by 0.54%, Industrials up by 0.40% and Capital Goods was up by 0.39%, while Auto down by 1.50%, Consumer Durables down by 1.09%, FMCG down by 0.85%, IT down by 0.84% and Realty was down by 0.80% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.60%, Axis Bank up by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.19%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.04% and NTPC up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.96%, Reliance Industries down by 2.31%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.82%, ICICI Bank down by 1.51% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has maintained a stable rating outlook for the overall infrastructure sector for FY24, on the back of the likelihood of a stable operating performance for majority of the projects, long-term revenue visibility under concession agreements and power purchase agreements, and expected improved cargo and traffic volumes.

Further, the rating agency maintained a negative rating outlook on wind power projects, while it has revised the rating outlook for airports and thermal assets to positive from stable, metro to stable from negative and annuity projects to stable from positive.

As per the report, growth in electricity demand leading to increasing utilisation of thermal assets and improving traffic volumes at airports and metros are positives. It said that adequate internal liquidity and timely payments from counterparties remain key monitorables, adding that the impact of rising interest rates also remains a key monitorable as it impacts overall coverages and return expectations.

Ind-Ra further said that capital market issuances are likely to slow down in light of rising interest rates, while refinancing requirements from completed projects are likely to grow. As per the agency, sponsors would focus on tenor elongation, refinancing to reduce interest rates post completion and sale of assets to churn equity.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17627.65, down by 126.75 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 17612.25 and 17772.35. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 1.74%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.16%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.16% and JSW Steel up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 4.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.00%, Adani Ports down by 2.79%, Reliance Industries down by 2.23% and SBI Life down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng declined 125.51 points or 0.63% to 19,925.74, Taiwan Weighted lost 47.54 points or 0.3% to 15,770.66, KOSPI dropped 12.82 points or 0.53% to 2,419.09, Straits Times fell 12.47 points or 0.39% to 3,214.39 and Shanghai Composite was down by 7.16 points or 0.22% to 3,276.09. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 23.43 points or 0.34% to 6,799.80 and Nikkei 225 was up by 178.96 points or 0.63% to 28,623.15.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 37.29 points or 0.47% to 7,892.63, France’s CAC fell 19.66 points or 0.27% to 7,305.10 and Germany’s DAX was down by 12.73 points or 0.08% to 15,619.14.