Benchmarks trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally in red in morning deals, as the global market cues remained weak. Traders remained cautious with report stating that investments by private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds declined by 35 per cent to $4.4 billion in April compared with $6.8 billion in the year-ago period. It said PE/VC investors continue to remain cautious due to global uncertainties, geopolitical tensions, and the ongoing Indian general elections. Some concern also came with another report stating that India's engineering exports declined 3.2 per cent to $8.67 billion in April 2024, primarily due to lower shipments of metals, especially iron, steel and copper. The lower shipment of steel was mainly witnessed in Italy, Nepal, the UAE, the Netherlands, the USA, China, and South Korea, among others. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in red, tracking a sell-off on Wall Street sparked by a string of better-than-expected US data that added to worries the Federal Reserve will hold off on cutting interest rates this year. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75329.65, down by 88.39 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 75244.22 and 75582.28. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.85%, Capital Goods up by 0.93%, Industrials up by 0.64%, Basic Materials up by 0.52% and Utilities up by 0.41%, while Realty down by 0.63%, FMCG down by 0.46%, Auto down by 0.34%, Healthcare down by 0.25% and IT down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.40%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.86%, SBI up by 0.76%, Tata Steel up by 0.66% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.88%, TCS down by 0.88%, ICICI Bank down by 0.72%, Titan Company down by 0.70% and ITC down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has said that it expects stable operating performance for most infrastructure projects in the current financial year. It maintained its stable outlook on the infrastructure sector, including the transport segment which signifies low chances of rating changes for the sector in the near to medium term.

It assigned a positive outlook on the airport segment which means there are high chances of rating upgrades in the near to medium term. It stated that the stable outlook on the infrastructure sector factors in the likelihood of a stable operating performance for most projects, long-term revenue visibility under concession agreements and power purchase pacts and expected improved cargo and traffic volumes.

Besides, on the power sector, it expects total capacity installed to reach about 476 GW in FY25 against 440 GW as of March 2024. Bharat Kumar Reddy, Associate Director at India Ratings and Research, said ‘On the energy front, we have seen peak demand growing by almost 13 per cent during the last fiscal. However, the deficit has reduced to 1.5 per cent compared to 4 per cent which we have seen in FY23 that is largely because of better coal supply.’ The overall peak demand was 243 GW in FY24 and the total capacity installed was about 440 GW as of March 2024.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22935.45, down by 32.20 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 22908.00 and 23004.05. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.45%, Hindalco up by 1.15%, Adani Enterprises up by 0.87%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.87% and SBI up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.97%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.63%, Tata Consumer Product down by 1.24%, Shriram Finance down by 1.18% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; Hang Seng declined 239.61 points or 1.29% to 18,629.10, Shanghai Composite weakened 4.89 points or 0.16% to 3,111.50, Straits Times fell 15.7 points or 0.47% to 3,306.92, KOSPI dropped 30.15 points or 1.12% to 2,691.66, Nikkei 225 slipped 375.98 points or 0.97% to 38,727.24 and Taiwan Weighted lost 8.97 points or 0.04% to 21,598.46.