Sensex, Nifty keep heads above water in early noon deals

In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks were managing to keep their heads above water in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, amid buying in FMCG, Realty and Utilities counters, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were positive, amid a private report stating that private sector investment is likely to pick up in the second half of the current financial year in sectors like hotel and tourism, after years of government-led robust capex to promote infrastructure building. The government has been pushing capital expenditure to promote economic growth. The push in expenditure has helped the country sustain the growth momentum in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after producer prices in South Korea were up 0.3 percent on month in April, accelerating from 0.2 percent in March. Among the individual components, prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products slumped 3.0 percent on month, while manufacturing products rose 0.7 percent, utilities fell 0.6 percent and services were up 0.2 percent. On a yearly basis, producer prices jumped 1.8 percent, up from 1.5 percent in the previous month.

Back home, road sector stocks were in watch, as credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report said that the revamping of the built-operate-transfer (BOT) model is a tactical move to attract private capex, which is estimated to surpass Rs 1 trillion by 2030, as per the government. The rating agency further noted that the road sector in India has been at the forefront of performance and innovation and has played a crucial role in shaping the country’s economic growth trajectory, with a CAGR of about 14% over the past decade.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74154.98, up by 201.67 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 73860.33 and 74171.81. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.35%, Realty up by 1.25%, Utilities up by 0.72%, IT up by 0.67% and Power up by 0.60%, while Bankex down by 0.66%, Metal down by 0.31%, Oil & Gas down by 0.31%, Telecom down by 0.24% and Auto down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.35%, Reliance Industries up by 1.87%, Infosys up by 1.62%, ITC up by 1.36% and Asian Paints up by 1.15%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.29%, Sun Pharma down by 1.26%, ICICI Bank down by 0.99%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.92% and Axis Bank down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the revamping of the built-operate-transfer (BOT) model is a tactical move to attract private capex, which is estimated to surpass Rs 1 trillion by 2030, as per the government. The rating agency further noted that the road sector in India has been at the forefront of performance and innovation and has played a crucial role in shaping the country’s economic growth trajectory, with a CAGR of about 14% over the past decade. 

As per the report, during the past seven years, the government has successfully rolled out about 400 hybrid annuity model (HAM) road projects in India, worth over Rs 4 trillion, thereby balancing risk appropriately between private and public partners and boosted the public-private partnership  activity in the sector. Also, the government’s enhanced focus on monetisation via the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) has attracted foreign investors, including various sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. 

Ind-Ra further said that the government’s continued focus on infrastructure development, stable regulations, setting up an infrastructure financing bank i.e. National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), promoting the adoption of surety bonds, and the introduction of FASTags have worked positively for the sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22581.85, up by 52.80 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 22483.15 and 22586.40. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.38%, Cipla up by 2.34%, Coal India up by 2.14%, Britannia up by 1.99% and Reliance Industries up by 1.84%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.48%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.47%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.46%, Hindalco down by 1.46% and Shriram Finance down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 7.87 points or 0.04% to 19,212.75, Shanghai Composite weakened 0.57 points or 0.02% to 3,157.40, KOSPI dropped 0.72 points or 0.03% to 2,723.46 and Nikkei 225 slipped 329.83 points or 0.85% to 38,617.10, while Jakarta Composite gained 43.7 points or 0.61% to 7,229.74 and Taiwan Weighted added 315.08 points or 1.46% to 21,551.83.