Markets remain in green in late morning deals

Domestic equity markets remained in green amid volatility in late morning deals. Buying in Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Titan and ITC helped the markets to trade above neutral lines. Meanwhile, broader indices were trading higher with BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index gaining in the range of 0.10-1.05%. Traders were getting encouragement as India's G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant said India will surpass Japan and Germany to emerge as the third-largest economy and also the third-largest stock market in the world in the next five years. However, gains were limited as technology stocks tumbled after Accenture lowered its full-year revenue guidance. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red despite positive cues from US markets overnight. Traders were cautious as Japan’s headline inflation rate for February came in at 2.8%, climbing from the 2.2% seen in February. Core inflation - which strips out prices of fresh food - was at 2.8% compared with 2% in the previous month. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, Telecom, Healthcare, Basic Materials and Consumer Durables, while selling was witnessed only in IT and TECK. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72752.15, up by 110.96 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 72172.09 and 72842.91. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.12%, while Small cap index up by 1.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.36%, Telecom up by 1.22%, Healthcare up by 0.80%, Basic Materials up by 0.75% and Consumer Durables up by 0.72%, while IT down by 1.63% and TECK down by 1.29% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.37%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.53%, Titan up by 1.42%, Tata Steel up by 1.30% and ITC up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.48%, HCL down by 2.29%, Infosys down by 2.15%, TCS down by 1.33% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that Indian airlines will operate a total of 24,275 weekly domestic flights during the summer schedule starting from March 31, a nearly 6 per cent increase compared to the year-ago period. It said the number of weekly departures is just 2.30 per cent higher as against 23,732 flights being operated by the scheduled carriers in the ongoing winter schedule that ends on March 30, 2024. 

According to DGCA, IndiGo, Air India and Vistara will operate more flights while SpiceJet will reduce departures during the 2024 summer schedule that spans from March 31 to October 26. In the summer schedule, Indian carriers will connect 37 countries, including the US, the UK, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The international flights will be operated from 27 domestic airports. Domestic carriers will be operating 1,922 weekly international flights, a rise of 5.1 per cent compared to the 2023 summer schedule. In comparison to the ongoing winter schedule where the count of international weekly flights is 1,892, the increase is only 1.6 per cent. Akasa Air, which is set to commence its overseas operations on March 28, is yet to file its schedule for international flights with the DGCA.

The regulator said there will be 24,275 domestic departures per week which have been finalised to/from 125 airports as per the summer schedule. Out of these 125 airports, Azamgarh, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Gondia, Jalgaon, Moradabad and Pithoragarh are the new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines. The country's largest airline IndiGo will be operating 13.82 per cent more flights at 13,050 in the summer schedule, while Air India will increase its weekly departures by 4.59 per cent to 2,278. Vistara will be operating 25.22 per cent more weekly flights at 2,324 while Akasa Air will increase their weekly domestic departures by 14.30 per cent to 903. SpiceJet will be cutting down its weekly departures by 22.28 per cent to 1,657. 

In the international segment, Air India will operate 455 weekly flights, an increase of 5.1 per cent compared to the year-ago period. IndiGo will have 13.5 per cent more international flights at 731 while Vistara will increase its weekly overseas departures by 50.8 per cent to 184. Air India Express' departures will rise 20.8 per cent to 371 flights. However, SpiceJet will be reducing its international flights by 12.6 per cent to 174. Alliance Air will operate 7 weekly international departures in the latest summer schedule compared to 4 in the year-ago period. Air India, Air India Express and Vistara are part of the Tata Group, and Vistara is in the process of getting merged with Air India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22074.10, up by 62.15 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 21883.30 and 22078.60. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.61%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.60%, UPL up by 2.34%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.18% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.40%, HCL down by 2.13%, Infosys down by 2.06%, LTIMindtree down by 1.73% and TCS down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 468.86 points or 2.78% to 16,394.24, Taiwan Weighted lost 0.98 points to 20,198.11, Straits Times fell 3.68 points or 0.11% to 3,216.69, KOSPI dropped 3.65 points or 0.13% to 2,751.21, Shanghai Composite weakened 30.93 points or 1.01% to 3,046.18 and Jakarta Composite plunged 1.23 points or 0.02% to 7,337.12. However, Nikkei 225 surged 153.05 points or 0.37% to 40,968.71.