Benchmarks remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by gains in Utilities, Auto and Industrials stocks, tracking a rise in global peers.  Sentiments remained positive with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its article stating that unlike the global economy, India would not slow down and maintain the pace of expansion achieved in 2022-23. It mentioned ‘We remain optimistic about India, whatever the odds.’ Traders also took a note of report that India will spend a whopping 1.7 per cent of its GDP on transport infrastructure this year -- around twice the level in America and most European countries -- a feat that has been noticed even by The Economist which called it 'eye-watering' upgrade that will set stage to achieve a $5 trillion economy. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher as concerns over banking eased further after the Credit Suisse rescue, while investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve rate decision later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58169.77, up by 95.09 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 58144.21 and 58418.78. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.67%, Auto up by 0.64%, Industrials up by 0.60%, Telecom up by 0.57% and Metal up by 0.47%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.02% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.73%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.13%, Indusind Bank up by 1.79%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.00% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.94%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.71%, Axis Bank down by 0.49%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.37%, HDFC Bank down by 0.36% and Titan Company down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy -- R K Singh has said that India's total installed renewable energy capacity touched 168.96 GW mark by February 2023-end. Out of the total 168.96 GW, 64.38 GW is solar power capacity, 51.79 GW hydro, 42.02 GW wind and 10.77 GW bio power.

He added that another 82.62 GW of green energy capacity is under implementation and 40.89 GW of capacity is under various stages of tendering. A total of 3,16,754.86 MU of electricity has been generated from renewable energy sources during the current year 2022-23 (up to January 2023).

According to the minister, India's total power generation capacity was at 412.21 GW as on February 28, 2023. Meanwhile, the government's aim is to achieve 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17132.55, up by 25.05 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 17127.50 and 17207.25. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.39%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.12%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.05%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.81% and Indusind Bank up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.70%, BPCL down by 1.65%, Cipla down by 0.90%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.77% and NTPC down by 0.65% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 201.65 points or 1.28% to 15,715.10, Hang Seng advanced 370.45 points or 1.89% to 19,629.21, Shanghai Composite strengthened 8.2 points or 0.25% to 3,263.85, KOSPI increased 23.66 points or 0.98% to 2,412.01, Straits Times rose 45.46 points or 1.41% to 3,219.39 and Nikkei 225 surged 563.92 points or 2.05% to 27,509.59.