Bourses trim gains in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some of their gains in late afternoon session amid sudden selling in banking stocks. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with gains of above half percent. Sector wise, oil &gas sector remained in focused as Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India will buy oil from all sources that offer it at the lowest possible prices. India has been buying crude oil from Russia, which is now its top oil supplier, at discounted prices since the west imposed import curbs following its invasion of Ukraine last year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as weak U.S. labor market data bolstered bets that the Fed's rate hike cycle could be nearing the end. European markets were trading mostly in red as losses in utilities, led by Denmark's Orsted, kept a lid on gains, while insurers rose on positive results from Prudential. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65318.82, up by 243.00 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 65288.25 and 65458.70. There were 26 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.66%, while Small cap index was up by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.66%, Realty up by 0.99%, TECK up by 0.92%, IT up by 0.88% and Metal was up by 0.83%, while Utilities down by 0.41%, Power down by 0.34%, Oil & Gas down by 0.33%, PSU down by 0.14% and Energy was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JIO Financial up by 4.99%, Tata Steel up by 2.47%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.39%, Axis Bank up by 1.29% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.51%, SBI down by 0.93%, NTPC down by 0.36%, ICICI Bank down by 0.20% and HDFC Bank down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that the total capital outlay for roads and renewables in 2023-24 and 2024-25 is likely to jump by 35 per cent to Rs 13 lakh crore compared to that in the last two fiscal years. Conducive policies, rising investor interest and strong execution speed are expected to drive the capital outlay in the sectors. 

According to the report, the pace of execution of renewable energy projects is set to increase 33 per cent to 20 GW per annum over the current and next fiscal as compared to 15 GW per annum in the past two fiscal years, supported by a healthy executable pipeline of 50 GW of projects as of March 2023. Similarly, it said road construction is set to improve 25 per cent to 12,500-13,000 km annually over the current and next fiscal, driven by healthy awarding of projects and step-up in execution. It said the levels at which companies are bidding for projects is a key monitorable going forward.

The report noted that continued focus on asset monetisation and equity raising, along with healthy cash flows, will keep the capital structure balanced in both sectors. It also said despite higher capital outlays, rated renewables and road entities should have a healthy average debt service cushion of 1.2x-1.3x over the tenure of debt on their balance sheets, which supports their credit profiles.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19408.75, up by 66.10 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 19405.75 and 19452.80. There were 40 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JIO Financial up by 4.99%, Tata Steel up by 2.43%, LTIMindtree up by 1.45%, HCL Tech up by 1.40% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.55%, BPCL down by 1.46%, SBI down by 0.94%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.83% and Divi's Lab down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 106.49 points or 0.33% to 32,333.46, Taiwan Weighted added 96.17 points or 0.58% to 16,719.82, Jakarta Composite gained 25.8 points or 0.37% to 6,983.64, KOSPI increased 9.06 points or 0.35% to 2,561.22 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.25 points or 0.04% to 3,137.14. On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 1.17 points or 0.01% to 18,482.86 and Straits Times was down by 3.91 points or 0.12% to 3,219.18.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 16.37 points or 0.22% to 7,357.06 and Germany’s DAX was down by 45.2 points or 0.28% to 15,885.68. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 10.26 points or 0.14% to 7,475.25.