Markets maintain gains in late morning deals

Domestic equity markets maintained their gains and were trading higher by over 0.40 percent each in late morning deals on account of buying by funds and retails investors. Positive cues from global markets also supported domestic sentiments. Sentiments got boost as US treasuries yields pulled back following the release of the results of the Treasury Department's auction of $16 billion worth of twenty-year bonds. Traders took a note of report that India and Australia held a 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue to step up defence cooperation and deepen the strategic partnership in sectors such as critical minerals and trade and investment. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Consumer Durables, Realty, Basic Materials, Healthcare and Consumer Disc, while selling was witnessed in PSU, Energy, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Utilities. 

On the global front, Asian markets were mostly trading in green following positive cues from US markets overnight. Some support also came in as private report said that regulators of China are drafting a list of 50 developers eligible for a range of financing. Back home, in the stock specific devolvement, Vascon Engineers rose after the company received an order worth Rs 357 crore from Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corp for the construction of a general hospital building in Pune.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65923.72, up by 268.57 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 65849.17 and 65960.62. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.08%, while Small cap index up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.47%, Realty up by 1.00%, Basic Materials up by 0.87%, Healthcare up by 0.53% and Consumer Disc up by 0.39%, while PSU down by 1.01%, Energy down by 0.98%, Oil & Gas down by 0.67%, Capital Goods down by 0.52% and Utilities down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 2.19%, Titan up by 1.59%, Reliance Industries up by 1.08%, Tata Steel up by 1.00% and HDFC Bank up by 0.97%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.06%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.48%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.46%, Indusind Bank down by 0.43% and Power Grid down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the project cost under the Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) programme has more than doubled to Rs 10.64 trillion owing to the steep rise in input costs and an increase in land acquisition costs. Bharatmala Pariyojana is the largest highway infrastructure programme in India which aims at the development of 34,800 kilometres of national highway corridors at an investment of Rs 5.35 trillion.

It said pending the cabinet approval for the revised cost of Bharatmala Phase-l, project awarding activity in the recent quarters took a beating, declining by 48 per cent YoY to 2,595 km during 7 month (7m) of FY2024 compared to 5,007 km during 7m FY2023. ICRA said it expects the awarding activity to contract over 30 per cent YoY (Year-on-Year) in FY2024. 

Giving more insights, ICRA VP & Co-Group Head Ashish Modani said almost 95 per cent of the road awards by the Ministry of Roads and Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in the last five years were awarded through the hybrid annuity mode (HAM) and the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) route, wherein the entire funding burden lay on the ministry. He said the burden on MORTH in case of BOT (Toll) projects is much lower, given the substantial cost escalation in the BMP and consequent increase in funding requirement. He added that the MORTH has thus shifted its focus on to BOT (Toll) projects. ICRA said while the average number of bidders for the EPC and the HAM projects stood at 15 and 8, respectively, in the case of BOT (Toll), it remained below 5.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19780.15, up by 86.15 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 19754.05 and 19790.05. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.31%, SBI Life up by 2.56%, Hindalco up by 2.39%, JSW Steel up by 2.20% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.93%, ONGC down by 3.23%, NTPC down by 1.12%, BPCL down by 0.91% and Britannia down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 108.99 points or 0.61% to 17,887.06, Nikkei 225 surged 4.55 points or 0.01% to 33,392.58, Taiwan Weighted added 189.17 points or 1.1% to 17,399.64, KOSPI increased 20.27 points or 0.81% to 2,511.47 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 11.73 points or 0.38% to 3,080.05. However, Straits Times fell 8.46 points or 0.27% to 3,103.12 and Jakarta Composite plunged 40 points or 0.58% to 6,954.89.