Bourses continue to trade above neutral lines in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks continued to trade above neutral lines in late afternoon session. Buying in IT and banking stocks helped markets to trade above neutral lines. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded in green. Sector wise, fertilizer sector remained in focused after credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has maintained a neutral outlook for the fertilizer sector for FY24. A neutral outlook is also on the back of moderation in the raw material prices across urea and nutrient-based fertilizers starting 4QFY23, coupled with the likelihood of a continued healthy demand in view of the GoI’s focus to increase farmer income.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as interest-rate worries persisted, with investors focusing on upcoming U.S. GDP data and PCE inflation for additional clue son the Fed's policy path. European markets were trading lower as banking sector worries overshadowed initial euphoria from solid earnings by tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60184.99, up by 54.28 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 59954.91 and 60292.26. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.05%, Capital Goods up by 0.95%, Telecom up by 0.85%, Industrials up by 0.67% and Power was up by 0.52%, while Metal down by 0.56%, Healthcare down by 0.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.22% and Energy was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.41%, Power Grid up by 1.27%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.17%, Indusind Bank up by 1.12% and Tata Motors up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.07%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.00%, NTPC down by 0.67%, Reliance Industries down by 0.63% and Sun Pharma down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the government of India’s continued policy-level support to the industry by way of the healthy subsidy budget, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has maintained a neutral outlook for the fertilizer sector for FY24. A neutral outlook is also on the back of moderation in the raw material prices across urea and nutrient-based fertilizers starting 4QFY23, coupled with the likelihood of a continued healthy demand in view of the GoI’s focus to increase farmer income.

According to the report, the fertilizer sector sales grew 15% year on year (YoY) during April 2022-February 2023, on the back of higher availability of funds with farmers due to various policy measures, and the stable farm gate prices maintained by fertilizer companies as a response to the higher subsidy allocation during FY23 to counter the increase in raw material prices.

Ind-Ra further noted that the sector saw a supplementary budget allocation of Rs 363.3 billion in March 2023, over and above the revised estimates of Rs 2,150 billion, leading to a lower-than-expected subsidy outstanding compared to its earlier expectations. This coupled with a continued decline in natural gas and other raw material (phosphoric acid, rock phosphate, Sulphur, etc.) prices could lead to a stable year-end subsidy balance in FY24.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17781.15, up by 11.90 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 17711.20 and 17810.25. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.34%, Tata Consumer up by 1.30%, Power Grid up by 1.25%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.20% and Indusind Bank up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.26%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.10%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.97% and NTPC down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng advanced 139.39 points or 0.71% to 19,757.27, Jakarta Composite gained 56.41 points or 0.82% to 6,878.22, Taiwan Weighted added 3.9 points or 0.03% to 15,374.63 and Straits Times was up by 0.97 points or 0.03% to 3,297.53. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 0.77 points or 0.02% to 3,264.10, KOSPI dropped 4.19 points or 0.17% to 2,484.83 and Nikkei 225 was down by 203.6 points or 0.72% to 28,416.47.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.8 points or 0.24% to 7,872.33, France’s CAC fell 42.85 points or 0.57% to 7,488.76 and Germany’s DAX was down by 76.09 points or 0.48% to 15,796.04.