Markets continue to trade near all-time high levels

Indian equity markets continued to trade near all-time high levels in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. Buying was seen in Banking sector’s stocks. Investors continued to take support as India’s current account balance posted a surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) during the fourth quarter ended March 2024 (Q4FY24). This comes after a gap of 10 quarters on the back of a surge in services exports. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after China's Premier Li Qiang said the country is capable of achieving the full year growth target of around 5 percent. European markets were trading lower after a 7% drop in chipmaker Nvidia dragged down U.S. tech companies on Monday, in a sign of nervousness about the artificial intelligence boom.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77950.34, up by 609.26 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 77459.60 and 78016.04. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.70%, Capital Goods up by 0.40%, Industrials up by 0.34%, IT up by 0.22% and TECK was up by 0.16%, while Realty down by 2.47%, Utilities down by 0.84%, Metal down by 0.83%, Power down by 0.80% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.62% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.80%, HDFC Bank up by 2.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.09%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.52% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.41%, Power Grid down by 1.20%, NTPC down by 0.88%, Asian Paints down by 0.88% and Adani Ports down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to augment existing telecom services and maintain continuity of services, the government is holding the spectrum auction on June 25, 2024.  This is in line with government’s commitment to facilitate affordable, state-of-art high quality telecom services to all the citizens.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated the Spectrum Auction and Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) was issued on March 08, 2024. The following spectrum bands will go up for bidding in the upcoming auction - 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz.

The auction will see participation from three bidders: Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio Infocomm and Spectrum will be assigned for a period of twenty years. Besides, successful bidders will be allowed to make payment in 20 equal annual instalments, duly protecting the NPV at the interest rate of 8.65%, while spectrum acquired through this auction can be surrendered after a minimum period of ten years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23692.75, up by 154.90 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 23562.05 and 23710.45. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 3.28%, Axis Bank up by 2.72%, HDFC Bank up by 2.34%, ICICI Bank up by 2.15% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.49%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.44%, Tata Steel down by 1.47%, Eicher Motors down by 1.43%, ONGC down by 1.20% and Power Grid down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 368.5 points or 0.95% to 39,173.15, Taiwan Weighted added 62.27 points or 0.27% to 22,875.97, Hang Seng advanced 45.19 points or 0.25% to 18,072.90, KOSPI increased 9.66 points or 0.35% to 2,774.39 and Straits Times was up by 7.47 points or 0.23% to 3,321.61. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.1 points or 0.44% to 2,950.00  and Jakarta Composite was down by 17.01 points or 0.25% to 6,872.16.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 10.87 points or 0.13% to 8,270.68, France’s CAC fell 61.04 points or 0.79% to 7,645.85 and Germany’s DAX was down by 224.2 points or 1.22% to 18,101.38.