Benchmarks trade with minor cuts in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial gains and were trading with minor cuts in morning deals, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of key Q4 earnings results of some major companies. Some concern also came with private report that India's economy is likely to post a resilient 6% growth in FY24, easing slightly from 7% in FY23 because of softer global growth and higher interest rates. Adding to the pessimism, National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 13.17 crore on April 19. Sectorally, sugar industry stocks remained in focus with private report that India’s sugar production next season will be enough to meet the local demand and the country will also be able to export some quantities of the sweetener, despite concerns about the emergence of the El Nino weather pattern. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors remained cautious ahead of an expected 25 basis point hike in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve next month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59562.93, down by 4.87 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 59504.54 and 59836.79. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.78%, Capital Goods up by 0.69%, Power up by 0.69%, Industrials up by 0.61% and Consumer Durables up by 0.54%, while Realty down by 0.66%, Healthcare down by 0.50%, TECK down by 0.25%, IT down by 0.23% and Energy down by 0.20% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.32%, Tata Motors up by 1.02%, Titan Company up by 0.82%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.75% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.72%, Reliance Industries down by 0.62%, Infosys down by 0.61%, HCL Technologies down by 0.47% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Alka Upadhyaya, Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), said that MoRTH has put plans in place to maintain the pace of highway development and construct 12,500 km of highways in the current financial year (FY24). Upadhyaya said Rs 10,000 crore is planned to be raised through Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) mode in FY 2023-24.

She mentioned ‘For 2023-24, MoRTH has taken up targets to award 12,000 km and construct 12,500 km of highways in the country.’ The road transport and highways ministry is yet to declare data on the construction and award of highway projects for 2022-23. The ministry has constructed 10,237 kilometres in 2019-20, 13,327 kilometres in 2020-21 and 10,457 kilometres in 2021-22.

Besides, she said MoRTH has leveraged various innovative ways of funding its infrastructure projects by involving the private sector in highway construction. Moreover, she said  ‘Till February 28, 2023, Rs 10,200 crore has been raised through InvIT in two phases, for a total length of 635 km, while InvIT III is planned to be awarded in April 2023 for a total of Rs 10,000 crore.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17599.40, down by 19.35 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 17590.10 and 17684.45. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.16%, NTPC up by 1.26%, Tata Motors up by 0.89%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.78% and Titan Company up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 3.35%, Eicher Motors down by 1.27%, Cipla down by 1.02%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.81% and Nestle down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 49.19 points or 0.31% to 15,721.28, Shanghai Composite weakened 20.04 points or 0.6% to 3,350.09, KOSPI dropped 16.57 points or 0.65% to 2,558.51 and Straits Times fell 14.86 points or 0.45% to 3,309.19.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 62.96 points or 0.22% to 28,669.72 and Hang Seng advanced 12.77 points or 0.06% to 20,380.53.