Bourses trade at day’s high levels in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s high levels in late afternoon session, as traders went for value buying. Banking, Metal and IT counters boosted the upward move. In scrip Specific, HDFC and HDFC Bank remained in lime light after HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh says the merger of the corporation with HDFC Bank will be effective July 1. Traders got support after the Ministry of Finance has approved capital investment proposals of Rs 56,415 crore for 16 states in the current financial year under a special assistance scheme announced in the budget. In order to boost capital spending by states, the ‘Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24’ scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24. Under the scheme, special assistance is being provided to the states in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan up to an overall sum of Rs 1.3 lakh crore during the financial year 2023-24.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as geopolitical concerns surrounding Russia eased somewhat and China's premier said growth is accelerating in the world's second-largest economy. European markets were trading mostly in green as investors monitored comments from central bankers at the ECB Forum in Sintra. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63,300.56, up by 330.56 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 63054.84 and 63267.41. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.33%, Metal up by 0.81%, Bankex up by 0.62%, Healthcare up by 0.58% and TECK was up by 0.44%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.28%, Auto down by 0.06% and FMCG was down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.67%, HDFC Bank up by 1.44%, HDFC up by 1.35%, Tata Motors up by 1.02% and Axis Bank up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 0.59%, Indusind Bank down by 0.41%, Nestle down by 0.26%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.21% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an effort towards enhancing ethanol production capacities further with the vision to boost the agricultural economy and to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel, the central government has extended timeline for disbursement of loan/completion of ethanol projects up to September 30, 2023.

Under the ‘scheme for extending financial assistance to sugar mills for augmentation of ethanol production capacity’, the central government extends soft loan through banks to the mills for setting up new distilleries/ expansion of existing distilleries and installation of incineration boilers or installation of any method as approved by Central Pollution Control Board for Zero Liquid Discharge. The Government bears interest subvention for the loan disbursed. The Central Government has decided to extend the timeline for disbursement of loans up to September 30, 2023 in respect of all the schemes notified during 2018-2021.

The previous timeline for disbursement of loans for the schemes related to ethanol projects was up to March 31, 2023. However, due to multiple challenges in processing loan applications and coordination with multiple agencies, project proponents were unable to adhere to the time limit for the disbursement of loans from Banks/ Financial institutions. They were unable to complete the projects within the given timeline. Therefore, there is a need to extend the timeline for the disbursement of loans under interest subvention schemes announced earlier during 2018-2021.The government is extending financial assistance in the form of interest subvention at 6% per annum or 50% of the rate of interest charged by banks, whichever is lower, on the loans to be extended by banks for five years including a one-year moratorium.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,784.45, up by 93.25 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 18714.25 and 18777.10. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 5.05%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.71%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.65%, HDFC Bank up by 1.45% and HDFC up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.32%, Britannia down by 0.89%, Tata Consumer down by 0.68%, UPL down by 0.65% and Eicher Motors down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng advanced 354 points or 1.85% to 19,148.13, Shanghai Composite strengthened 38.82 points or 1.22% to 3,189.44, Straits Times rose 19.08 points or 0.6% to 3,208.76 and Jakarta Composite was up by 5.66 points or 0.08% to 6,670.33. On the flip sides, KOSPI dropped 0.81 points or 0.03% to 2,581.39, Nikkei 225 slipped 160.48 points or 0.49% to 32,538.33 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 171.34 points or 1.01% to 16,887.90.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 8.41 points or 0.11% to 7,461.99 and France’s CAC was up by 7.46 points or 0.1% to 7,191.81. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 5.57 points or 0.04% to 15,807.49.