Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, tracking rally in global markets and fresh foreign fund inflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 385.71 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Traders took support with Credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report stating that India Inc. have witnessed sequential expansion in margins in Q4 FY2023, with a YoY increase of 11.4%, while the sequential revenue growth was relatively moderate at 5.2%. However, gains remain capped as investors' focus remains on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision at the ongoing bi-monthly monetary policy review. Sectorally, aviation industry stocks remained in watch as international airlines' grouping IATA's chief Willie Walsh said India is a fantastic potential market for aviation but not a cheap market to operate as taxation is higher in the country than in many other places. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, as traders remain cautious and apprehensive over the outlook for interest rates as they continue to look ahead to next week's US Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62951.95, up by 159.07 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 62883.54 and 63027.98. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.90%, while Small cap index was up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.53%, Telecom up by 1.25%, Capital Goods up by 1.05%, Power up by 1.00% and Industrials up by 0.90%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 2.37%, Power Grid Corp up by 1.59%, Axis Bank up by 1.06%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.82% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.72%, HCL Technologies down by 0.34%, ICICI Bank down by 0.26%, Sun Pharma down by 0.21% and Titan Co down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief Willie Walsh has said India is a fantastic potential market for aviation but not a cheap market to operate as taxation is higher in the country than in many other places. Walsh also highlighted the scale of the economy and investments going into airports in India.

Talking about a possible duopoly in the Indian airline market, Walsh said there is plenty of scope for others (airlines) to compete in the market. Meanwhile, he also said that he has no sympathy for airports and that they are profitable all the time. He said ‘Airports try to convince people that every new passenger I get means I have to increase my charges. That is complete nonsense. The more passengers you get, the lower your cost should be. What we have seen with airports is very high returns on capital way in excess of the cost of their capital.’

Further, He said that India needs to recognise that the real advantage will come in by making fares cheaper for more and more people to fly. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a grouping of more than 300 airlines, including Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18662.75, up by 63.75 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 18636.00 and 18676.05. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Britannia Industries up by 3.14%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.38%, Nestle up by 2.35%, Tata Consumer Product up by 2.29% and BPCL up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 0.85%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.62%, HCL Technologies down by 0.25%, Titan Company down by 0.23% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 142.89 points or 0.85% to 16,904.55, Hang Seng advanced 185.82 points or 0.96% to 19,285.10, Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.54 points or 0.02% to 3,195.88 and KOSPI increased 4.49 points or 0.17% to 2,619.90.

On the flip side,Nikkei 225 slipped 384.21 points or 1.18% to 32,122.57, Jakarta Composite plunged 26.78 points or 0.41% to 6,592.14 and Straits Times fell 12.19 points or 0.38% to 3,177.92.