Bourses trade flat in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded near neutral lines with positive bias in late afternoon session. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index trading mixed. Markets managed to trade in green with S&P Global Rating’s statement that India can get rating support over time if it utilises the highest-ever dividend of over Rs 2.11 trillion received from the Reserve Bank to reduce fiscal deficit. The RBI board has decided to pay a record Rs 2.11 trillion dividend to the government for the fiscal ended March 2024, more than double of what was budgeted expectation of Rs 1.02 trillion. However, traders were cautious ahead of the results of the Lok Sabha polls announcement. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red as robust U.S. economic data stoked concerns about sticky inflation and the Federal Reserve's rate path. European markets were trading lower as confidence among French manufacturers worsened unexpectedly in May and returned to below its long-term average. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75491.89, up by 73.85 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 75244.22 and 75636.50. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.42%, while Small cap index was down by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.77%, Capital Goods up by 1.42%, PSU up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.84% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.75%, while FMCG down by 0.65%, Realty down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.38%, Healthcare down by 0.34%, and Consumer discretionary was down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 1.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.50%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.30%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.12% and Axis Bank up by 0.82%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.18%, Asian Paints down by 1.11%, ITC down by 1.05%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.74% and ICICI Bank down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a severe heat wave pushed India’s power demand to a fresh high. As per the data from the Ministry of Power, the power demand in India was on May 23, 2024 at its seasonal high at 237 gigawatts (GW), surpassing its previous record high of 234 GW seen earlier this week. 

The government had expected a power demand of between 225-235 GW during May. In June, power demand is expected to be between 235-240 GW and 235 GW in the evening, and 240 GW during the daytime. Therefore, the government is taking all necessary steps to ensure that the electricity demand in the summer season is met. To ensure this, a series of meetings, emphasizing the need for ensuring Zero load shedding during the summer season was held.

Meanwhile, for this summer season, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has projected higher-than-normal maximum and minimum temperatures across the country, except over some isolated areas of Northwest, Northeast, Central and Peninsular India. The electricity demand would also hence be higher than in previous years, which is reflected also in the rising trend of peak demand in recent months, during both solar hours and non-solar hours.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22984.20, up by 16.55 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 22908.00 and 23026.40. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 1.78%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.60%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.35%, BPCL up by 1.33% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 1.61%, Tata Consumer down by 1.44%, Asian Paints down by 1.23%, ITC down by 1.14% and TCS down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 457.11 points or 1.18% to 38,646.11, Hang Seng declined 259.77 points or 1.4% to 18,608.94, Taiwan Weighted lost 42.09 points or 0.2% to 21,565.34, KOSPI dropped 34.21 points or 1.27% to 2,687.60, Shanghai Composite weakened 27.52 points or 0.89% to 3,088.87 and Straits Times was down by 5.33 points or 0.16% to 3,317.29.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 29.98 points or 0.36% to 8,309.25, France’s CAC fell 13.29 points or 0.16% to 8,089.04 and Germany’s DAX was down by 64.18 points or 0.34% to 18,627.14.