Benchmarks continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals, amid sluggish global market trends and spike in Brent crude oil prices. Some concern also came as ratings agency ICRA said borrowing costs for state governments and union territories are expected to increase in the second half of Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24) on rising bond yields and widening of spreads up to 15 basis points. On the sectoral front, stocks related to infrastructure remained in focus as CRISIL said India’s investments in infrastructure will rise to Rs 143 trillion between financial years 2024 and 2030. The rating agency said it will be more than twice the Rs 67 trillion spent in the past seven financial years. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors ponder over risks stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict. Traders overlooked improved China data showing that Chia's GDP growth for the third quarter beat estimates and readings on retail sales and industrial output for September also surprised on the upside, suggesting that Beijing's stimulus measures are gaining traction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66439.27, up by 11.18 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 66266.68 and 66475.27. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.57%, Telecom up by 0.46%, TECK up by 0.42% and Auto up by 0.38%, while Realty down by 0.37%, Utilities down by 0.24%, Power down by 0.16%, Bankex down by 0.16% and Consumer Durables down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.51%, Tata Motors up by 1.04%, ITC up by 0.73%, Infosys up by 0.64% and JSW Steel up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.43%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.89%, ICICI Bank down by 0.69%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.68% and HDFC Bank down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil has said India will spend nearly Rs 143 lakh crore on infrastructure between fiscals 2024 and 2030, more than twice the Rs 67 lakh crore spent in the past seven financial years starting 2017. It stated, of the total, Rs 36.6 lakh crore will be green investments, marking a five times rise compared with the amount spent during fiscals 2017-2023.

Further, it said appropriate and consistent policy and regulatory interventions and focus on timely execution build an attractive case for various stakeholders to accelerate investments across infrastructure sectors.

Besides, Crisil managing director and CEO Amish Mehta said the agency expects India's gross domestic product to grow at an average 6.7 per cent through fiscal 2031 to be the fastest-expanding large economy. He said per capita income is seen rising from $2,500 now to $4,500 by fiscal 2031, creating a middle-income country. He added that this growth will be underpinned by massive all-round infrastructure development, with sharp focus on integrating sustainability.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19830.55, up by 19.05 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 19774.80 and 19840.95. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.33%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.69%, Sun Pharma up by 1.64%, Hindalco up by 1.56% and Tata Motors up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.45%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.97%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.66%, LTIMindtree down by 0.63% and ICICI Bank down by 0.60% were the top losers. 

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 43.65 points or 0.14% to 31,996.64, Taiwan Weighted lost 188.01 points or 1.13% to 16,454.54, Hang Seng declined 18.09 points or 0.1% to 17,755.25, Straits Times fell 20.29 points or 0.64% to 3,151.54, Jakarta Composite plunged 22.72 points or 0.33% to 6,916.90 and Shanghai Composite weakened 18.74 points or 0.61% to 3,064.76.

On the flip side, KOSPI increased 0.90 points or 0.04% to 2,461.07.