Markets trade flat in early deals amid lack of domestic, global triggers

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Tuesday after the extended holiday break. Markets were closed on Monday owing to the Christmas holiday. Markets are trading flat in early deals amid lack of domestic and global triggers, and as investors indulged in year-end profit booking. A surge in new Covid-19 cases weighted down on the sentiments. India logged a total of 628 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, while the active caseload jumped to 4,054. However, downside remained capped amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have injected over Rs 57,300 crore into the Indian equity markets this month so far owing to political stability, robust economic growth, and a steady decline in the US bond yields. With this, total investment by FPIs surpassed Rs 1.62 lakh crore this year. Traders took encouragement as leading credit rating firm Fitch Ratings expects that India’s resilient economic growth will boost demand of the corporates. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed following the mixed cues from global markets, as traders remain cautious and do not want to hold on to any significant positions during the holiday ridden final week of the year. Back home, oil & gas sector stocks are in focus as data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed that the country’s crude import bill decreased significantly to $87.1 billion in the April to November period from $113.4 billion in the same period last fiscal even as the import volume remained largely unchanged. In stock specific development, Infosys traded under pressure after a global company decided to terminate the Memorandum of Understanding, which the two companies were to sign. The company said the parties will not be pursuing the Master Agreement.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71094.34, down by 12.62 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 71012.08 and 71194.56. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.50%, PSU up by 1.37%, Power up by 1.29%, Oil & Gas up by 0.92% and Energy up by 0.86%, while IT down by 0.95%, TECK down by 0.83% and Bankex down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.30%, Tata Steel up by 1.61%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.48%, Power Grid up by 1.38% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.77%, Wipro down by 1.66%, HCL Technologies down by 1.14%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.84% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting India’s robust economic growth, leading credit rating firm Fitch Ratings expects that the country’s resilient economic growth will boost demand of the corporates. In its latest research report on ‘India Corporates: Sector Trends 2024’, Fitch said that this is a sequel to the robust performance of the corporates in 2023 and will offset weakness from slowing growth in the key overseas markets.

It added rising demand and easing input cost pressure should boost margins of the corporates in the next financial year. It also said that with strong domestic demand growth, it is expected that India will be among the world’s fastest-growing countries, with resilient GDP growth of 6.5 per cent during the fiscal 2024-25. This is despite a challenging global backdrop and the cumulative impact of the recent monetary tightening.

Sectors like cement, electricity and petroleum products are expected to witness a strong demand with high-frequency data in 2023 sustained well above pre-COVID pandemic levels. Fitch said that India’s improving infrastructure will also boost steel demand. Slowing down in the US and the Eurozone is likely to moderate growth of the IT services. It said rising domestic auto sales volume should drive revenues of the auto suppliers, while travel and tourism conditions also improved in 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21366.80, up by 17.40 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 21329.45 and 21389.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.19%, NTPC up by 2.15%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.69%, Tata Steel up by 1.54% and Coal India up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.93%, Wipro down by 1.69%, HCL Technologies down by 1.29%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.03% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted surged 131.74 points or 0.75% to 17,736.58, KOSPI rose 0.45 points or 0.02% to 2,599.96 and Straits Times was up by 0.16 points or 0.01% to 3,140.48. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slipped 53.61 points or 0.16% to 33,200.42 and Shanghai Composite was down by 19.23 points or 0.66% to 2,899.58.