Bourses maintain gains in late afternoon session

In volatile trading session, Indian equity markets maintained their gains in late afternoon session. Buying were witnessed in FMCG and IT sector’s stocks. Investors were tracking Q4FY24 earnings. Traders continued to take support as an article on the state of the economy published in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) May Bulletin noted that India is likely to grow by 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY25), with rising aggregate demand and non-food spending in the rural economy. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors waited for cues from AI chip leader Nvidia's earnings and the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's recent meeting. European markets were trading lower after data showed that U.K. consumer price inflation slowed less than expected in April, raising uncertainty over a possible rate cut in June.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74133.54, up by 180.23 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 73860.33 and 74239.02. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.22%, Realty up by 0.75%, IT up by 0.64%, Capital Goods up by 0.58% and TECK was up by 0.56%, while Bankex down by 0.74%, Oil & Gas down by 0.49%, Metal down by 0.37%, Consumer Durables down by 0.23% and PSU was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.47%, Reliance Industries up by 1.91%, Infosys up by 1.46%, Asian Paints up by 1.32% and ITC up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.53%, SBI down by 1.48%, ICICI Bank down by 1.02%, JSW Steel down by 0.73% and Axis Bank down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that India’s wind capacity addition is expected to increase by around 2.5 times to nearly 25 GW between fiscals 2025 and 2028 compared with around 9 GW between fiscals 2021 and 2024, entailing a capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 1.8-2 lakh crore. This rides on the increasing importance of wind generation in India’s renewable mix for grid balancing and providing renewable power throughout the day vis-a-vis solar generation, which typically happens during the day. 

According to the report, a ramp-up in auctions of wind and hybrid projects (including storage linked projects) supported by construction of transmission infrastructure to wind sites, improved financial profiles of wind original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and viable tariff bids in recent past indicate as much. India added wind capacity at around 3.0 GW per year between fiscals 2014 and 2018. However, the pace slowed down to 1.7 GW between fiscals 2018 and 2023 owing to lack of connected sites with high wind potential and diminished returns for developers following aggressive bidding. Several policies/ initiatives have since been rolled out to strengthen the prospects of the wind sector.

The report said, for instance, the government has set a target to auction 50 GW of renewable projects every year, including 10 GW of standalone wind projects for specifically reinvigorating wind capacity additions. This has already led to auction of around 5 GW standalone wind projects since the start of fiscal 2023, vis-a-vis around 3 GW auctioned in fiscals 2021 and 2022. Auctions of hybrid and storage linked projects are also on the rise--up from 4 GW in fiscals 2021 and 2022 to nearly 18 GW in fiscals 2024 and 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22573.20, up by 44.15 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 22483.15 and 22608.15. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.03%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.40%, Tata Consumer up by 2.14%, Coal India up by 2.03% and Reliance Industries up by 1.91%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.55%, Sun Pharma down by 1.48%, Hindalco down by 1.44%, BPCL down by 1.35% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 329.83 points or 0.85% to 38,617.10, Hang Seng declined 25.02 points or 0.13% to 19,195.60 and KOSPI was down by 0.72 points or 0.03% to 2,723.46. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.57 points or 0.02% to 3,158.54, Jakarta Composite gained 28.9 points or 0.4% to 7,214.94 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 315.08 points or 1.46% to 21,551.83.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 23.69 points or 0.28% to 8,392.76, France’s CAC fell 43.27 points or 0.53% to 8,098.19 and Germany’s DAX was down by 51.72 points or 0.28% to 18,675.04.