Domestic indices trade flat with positive bias

Domestic equity indices were trading flat with positive bias in late morning deals. Buying in Reliance Industries, Infosys, Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever companies’ stocks helped the markets to trade above the neutral lines. Meanwhile, broader indices on the BSE were trading mixed. However, gains were limited on account of selling in banking industry related stocks namely ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI. Traders remained on sidelines as they await the release of the minutes of the US Fed's latest monetary policy meeting later in the day for clues about the outlook for interest rates. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, FMCG, IT, Utilities and Power, while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Metal, PSU, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following positive cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) fell after the company announced its Q4 results, which missed street expectations.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74059.04, up by 105.73 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 73860.33 and 74165.52. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.11%, while Small cap index up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.35%, FMCG up by 1.33%, IT up by 0.65%, Utilities up by 0.60% and Power up by 0.52%, while Bankex down by 0.81%, Metal down by 0.58%, PSU down by 0.40%, Oil & Gas down by 0.36% and Basic Materials down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.61%, Reliance Industries up by 1.51%, Infosys up by 1.43%, Asian Paints up by 1.35% and ITC up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.87%, SBI down by 1.67%, JSW Steel down by 1.34%, Axis Bank down by 1.22% and ICICI Bank down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest data has showed that India’s domestic air passenger traffic increased by 2.4% year-on-year to 132 lakh passengers in April 2024, as against 128.88 lakh passengers in April 2023. It noted that as many as 1,370 passengers were affected due to denied boarding, with airlines spending Rs 136.23 lakh towards compensation and facilities in this regard. During January - April 2024, passengers carried by domestic airlines were 523.46 lakh as against 503.93 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering an annual growth of 3.88 per cent.

According to the data, there were a total of 32,314 flight cancellations in April 2024 and airlines spent Rs 89.26 lakh towards compensation and facilities. In April 2024, a total of 1,09,910 flights were delayed. Airlines shelled out Rs 135.42 lakh towards facilitation. In terms of On-Time Performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the list at 89.2 per cent, followed by AIX Connect (79.5 per cent), Vistara (76.2 per cent), IndiGo (76.1 per cent), Air India (72.1 per cent), SpiceJet (64.2 per cent) and Alliance Air (49.5 per cent).

In terms of market share, IndiGo's market share inched up to 60.6 per cent in April 2024 while that of Air India rose to 14.2 per cent. However, the market share of Vistara and AIX Connect fell to 9.2 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively. Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect are part of the Tata Group. While Akasa Air's market share remained unchanged at 4.4 per cent in April, that of SpiceJet declined to 4.7 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22551.20, up by 22.15 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 22483.15 and 22577.40. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.70%, Coal India up by 2.01%, Britannia up by 1.74%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.58% and Reliance Industries up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.81%, SBI down by 1.76%, Shriram Finance down by 1.54%, BPCL down by 1.52% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 22.73 points or 0.12% to 19,243.35, Jakarta Composite gained 41.66 points or 0.58% to 7,227.70, KOSPI increased 4.04 points or 0.15% to 2,728.22 and Taiwan Weighted added 315.08 points or 1.46% to 21,551.83. However, Nikkei 225 slipped 306.27 points or 0.79% to 38,640.66 and Shanghai Composite weakened 1.42 points or 0.04% to 3,156.55.