Domestic indices trade tad higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Thursday following overnight weakness on Wall Street post US Federal Reserve's 25 bps rate increase. Investors also remain cautious ahead of weekly F&O expiry. Though, markets managed to eke out some gains in early deals and are trading tad higher tracking positive cues from Asian counter parts. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 1,338 crore on May 3, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Besides, broader indices are outperforming larger peers with gains of around half a percent each. Meanwhile, the Indian rupee strengthened tracking a decline in the dollar against Asian currencies after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled a pause in its rate-hike cycle. There were some buzz in media and entertainment stocks as a Ficci-EY report noted that the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) sector grew 20 per cent in 2022 to reach Rs 2.1 trillion, 10 per cent above its pre-pandemic levels in 2019.  In stock specific development, Titan gained after net profit rose 40 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the January-March quarter of FY23 (Q4FY23).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61275.02, up by 81.72 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 61119.56 and 61298.43. 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 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.71%, Metal up by 0.64%, Industrials up by 0.63%, PSU up by 0.60%, Consumer Durables up by 0.50%, while Realty down by 0.60%, FMCG down by 0.19%, Auto down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.28%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.22%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.90%, SBI up by 0.87% and Tata Steel up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.75%, HCL Technologies down by 0.64%, ITC down by 0.59%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.54% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report has said the country’s green financing requirement is estimated to be at least 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually till 2030. The country aims to achieve net zero emissions target by 2070. The RBI’s report on Currency and Finance (RCF) for the year 2022-23 covers four major dimensions of climate change to assess future challenges to sustainable high growth in India. The areas are the unprecedented scale and pace of climate change; its macroeconomic effects; implications for financial stability; and policy options to mitigate climate risks.

It said the country’s goal of achieving the net zero target by 2070 would require an accelerated reduction in the energy intensity of GDP by around 5 per cent annually and a significant improvement in its energy-mix in favour of renewables to around 80 per cent by 2070-71. According to the report, a balanced policy intervention with progress ensured across all policy levers will enable India to achieve its green transition targets by 2030, making the net zero goal by 2070 attainable. It said ‘India’s goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047 and achieving the net zero target by 2070 would require accelerated efforts in terms of reducing the energy intensity of output as well as improving the energy-mix in favour of renewables’.

Further, the report said scenario analysis suggests that delayed climate policy actions could be costlier in terms of larger output losses and higher inflation. As per the report, India’s susceptibility to physical risks emanating from climate change raises significant concerns on policy trade-offs surrounding growth-inflation. It said ‘scenario analysis indicates that the Indian economy may be deeply impacted, with inflation rising and output falling in the medium-term under a lenient mitigation plan’. Risk mitigating domestic policies and global concerted efforts could, however, help in containing the adverse impact on growth and inflation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18118.15, up by 28.30 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 18066.70 and 18123.45. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 1.87%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.58%, BPCL up by 1.50%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.23% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.75%, ITC down by 0.61%, HCL Technologies down by 0.56%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.54% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Hang Seng advanced 189.47 points or 0.95% to 19,888.63, Taiwan Weighted added 49.9 points or 0.32% to 15,603.31, Shanghai Composite strengthened 18.46 points or 0.55% to 3,341.73, Jakarta Composite gained 7.48 points or 0.11% to 6,820.20, Straits Times rose 1.78 points or 0.05% to 3,263.79 and KOSPI dropped 7.11 points or 0.29% to 2,494.29.