Bourses off from day’s highs in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks came off from day’s highs in late afternoon session owing to selling pressure in IT counter. However, markets continued to trade above neutral lines, as rate hike has been put on hold since May 2022 after six consecutive rate hikes totaling 250 basis points. Besides, Reserve Bank marginally raised India's economic growth projection for the current financial year to 6.5 per cent on back of higher Rabi crop output, moderating commodity prices, and the government's plan of higher capital expenditure. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as traders geared up for the release of key jobs data that could determine the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision. European markets were trading higher heading into a long Easter weekend break, as real estate and travel stocks helped outweigh concerns over a U.S. economic slowdown that were triggered by lacklustre data.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59742.14, up by 52.83 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 59520.12 and 59950.06. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.99%, Utilities up by 0.83%, Auto up by 0.75%, Oil & Gas up by 0.74% and Power was up by 0.71%, while IT down by 0.73%, Metal down by 0.60%, TECK down by 0.59%, FMCG down by 0.46% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.50%, Tata Motors up by 2.43%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.88%, Sun Pharma up by 1.48% and Indusind Bank up by 1.32%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.07%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.34%, Axis Bank down by 1.12%, ICICI Bank down by 1.12% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Government is planning to add 50 GW of renewable energy capacity annually for the next five years i.e., from Financial Year 2023-24 till Financial Year 2027-28. These annual bids of ISTS (Inter-State Transmission) connected renewable energy capacity will also include setting up of wind power capacity of at least 10 GW per annum.

The plan finalized by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) at a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Power & NRE R. K. Singh last week, is in accordance with Prime Minister’s announcement at COP26, of achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel (Renewable Energy + Nuclear) sources by 2030.

Meanwhile, India currently has a total renewable energy capacity of 168.96 GW (as on February 28, 2023) with about 82 GW at various stages of implementation and about 41 GW under tendering stage. This includes 64.38 GW Solar Power, 51.79 GW Hydro Power, 42.02 GW Wind Power and 10.77 GW Bio Power.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17579.05, up by 22.00 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17502.85 and 17638.70. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.71%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.61%, Tata Motors up by 2.39%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.93% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.48%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.98%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.32%, ONGC down by 1.24%, Axis Bank down by 1.13% and ICICI Bank down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 340.63 points or 1.24% to 27,472.63, Taiwan Weighted lost 57.29 points or 0.36% to 15,810.77, KOSPI dropped 35.98 points or 1.46% to 2,459.23, Jakarta Composite plunged 21.38 points or 0.31% to 6,798.30 and Straits Times was down by 18.77 points or 0.57% to 3,300.10. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.07 points or 0% to 3,312.63 and Hang Seng was up by 56.61 points or 0.28% to 20,331.20.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 39.97 points or 0.52% to 7,702.91, France’s CAC rose 14.66 points or 0.2% to 7,330.96 and Germany’s DAX was up by 34.6 points or 0.22% to 15,554.77.