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

The Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s highest levels in late afternoon session led by strong gains in bank and metal stocks. In scrip specific developments, Hindustan Aeronautics, L&T, Paras Defence and Space Technologies and MTAR Technologies were trading higher ahead of the much awaited Chandrayaan-3 landing. Traders took note of report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had an excellent meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and discussed a range of issues aimed at deepening the bilateral ties and also working jointly to strengthen the voice of the Global South. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid investors awaited Nvidia's earnings as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech this week for directional cues. European markets were trading higher amid investors assessed private business activity surveys from Asia and await Nvidia Corp.'s earnings later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65451.18, up by 231.15 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 65108.51 and 65504.71. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained by 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.40%, Metal up by 1.23%, Industrials up by 1.22%, Bankex up by 1.20% and PSU was up by 0.93%, while FMCG down by 0.30%, Oil & Gas down by 0.10%, Power down by 0.08% and Energy was down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.15%, ICICI Bank up by 1.54%, SBI up by 1.53%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.40% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.26%. On the flip side, JIO Financial down by 5.00%, Sun Pharma down by 1.07%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.94%, Tata Motors down by 0.81% and ITC down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest analysis report based on ‘the Q1FY24 results of 3,323 listed companies’ has showed a continued year on year (YoY) fall in revenue growth, a declining trend in coverage indicators and steady operating margins across most sectors.

As per the report, the sharp fall in inflation, global influences affecting exports and normalisation of post-pandemic demand put the pressure on revenues of the companies. It further noted that while the fall in general price levels affected the top line growth, the correction in principal raw materials prices appears to have aided margins for the companies facing a demand disruption. 

Ind-Ra further said that despite an overall robust corporate risk profile, sectors such as textiles, construction materials, infrastructure, chemicals, and non-ferrous metals are undergoing deterioration in credit profiles due to global economic pressures, large debt-funded capex among large entities, and rapidly increasing interest rates.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19453.70, up by 57.25 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 19366.60 and 19472.05. There were 33 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.98%, Axis Bank up by 2.20%, Divi's Lab up by 1.52%, ICICI Bank up by 1.51% and SBI up by 1.50%. On the flip side, JIO Financial down by 4.99%, Adani Enterprises down by 3.76%, Adani Ports down by 2.27%, Sun Pharma down by 1.19% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 153.55 points or 0.48% to 32,010.26, Taiwan Weighted added 139.29 points or 0.84% to 16,576.90, Hang Seng advanced 54.91 points or 0.31% to 17,845.92, Straits Times rose 20.9 points or 0.66% to 3,180.78 and Jakarta Composite was up by 19.6 points or 0.28% to 6,936.05. On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 10.24 points or 0.41% to 2,505.50 and Shanghai Composite was down by 41.93 points or 1.36% to 3,078.40.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 38.55 points or 0.53% to 7,309.31, France’s CAC rose 38.3 points or 0.53% to 7,279.18 and Germany’s DAX was up by 84.86 points or 0.54% to 15,790.48.