Bourses continues to trade in green late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade in green late afternoon session. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading in green. Investors were eyeing US Federal Reserve’s rate decision due later in the day. Traders took support as private report stated that the shares of income and wealth of India’s top 1% at 22.6% and 40.1% respectively is at their ‘highest historical levels’ in 2022-23, beating even developed economies such as the US. Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that the provisional figures of net direct tax collections registered a growth of 19.88 per cent to Rs 18,90,259 crore for the financial year 2023-24 (as of March 17, 2024) as compared to Rs 15,76,776 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year (FY 2022–23), on higher advance tax mop-up.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as investors digested the Bank of Japan's landmark shift in monetary policy while awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. European markets were trading lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due later in the day. Meanwhile, Germany's producer prices declined for the eighth straight month in February, and at a faster-than-expected pace. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72210.30, up by 198.25 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 71674.42 and 72402.67. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.08%, Oil & Gas up by 1.00%, Energy up by 1.00%, PSU up by 0.69% and Auto was up by 0.67%, while Metal down by 0.81%, Basic Materials down by 0.48%, Consumer Durables down by 0.28% and IT was down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.21%, Power Grid up by 2.22%, Nestle up by 2.05%, SBI up by 1.45% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.85%, Tata Motors down by 1.31%, HDFC Bank down by 0.88%, HCL Tech down by 0.78% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, maintaining a neutral outlook for the pharmaceuticals sector for FY25, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report is expecting pharmaceuticals companies to continue to benefit from growth in the domestic as well as export markets, while maintaining healthy EBITDA margins led by a moderation in the price erosion in the US generics business, softening of input costs, and high-value product launches in the US generic market. 

According to report named ‘FY25 Pharmaceuticals Outlook: Moving Up the Value Chain; Sustainable Margins in Sight’, the Indian pharmaceuticals market (IPM) is likely to grow 8%-9% year on year (yoy) in FY25 (FY24: 6%-7% yoy; FY23: 9.3% yoy). It further expects its US-focused pharma issuers to remain stable or report mid-to single-digit revenue growth in FY25 (FY23: 7.2% yoy; 9MFY24: 18.5% yoy) on account of lack of revenue from one-off products. Hence, the overall proportion of sales from the US is likely to remain stable. 

The report further noted that the active pharmaceuticals ingredients (API) business of Ind-Ra selected companies is expected to report high single-digit growth in FY25 due to a demand uptick. The overall revenue growth for them is also expected at around 9% yoy while maintaining healthy EBITDA margin performance (around 22%) in FY25. It also said that there has recently been a wave of M&A activity in the domestic formulations space, which is likely to continue.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21872.80, up by 55.35 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 21710.20 and 21930.90. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.35%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.25%, Power Grid up by 2.30%, Nestle up by 2.13% and BPCL up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 1.99%, Tata Steel down by 1.71%, Hindalco down by 1.57%, UPL down by 1.31% and Tata Motors down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 263.16 points or 0.66% to 40,003.60, KOSPI increased 33.97 points or 1.26% to 2,690.14, Hang Seng advanced 26.55 points or 0.16% to 16,556.03, Shanghai Composite strengthened 16.93 points or 0.55% to 3,079.69 and Straits Times was up by 3.97 points or 0.12% to 3,177.52. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 19.81 points or 0.27% to 7,316.94 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 72.75 points or 0.37% to 19,784.45.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 12.29 points or 0.16% to 7,726.01, France’s CAC fell 67.86 points or 0.83% to 8,133.19 and Germany’s DAX was down by 19.28 points or 0.11% to 17,968.21.