Sensex, Nifty remain lower during early afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained lower during early afternoon deals, with Sensex and Nifty holding losses of over half a percent, amid selling at Metal and Auto counters, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Mahindra & Mahindra and TCS were among the top losers on the BSE. However, markets managed to come off from their day’s low points, as traders took support with RBI stating that the Reserve Bank's FI-Index, capturing the extent of financial inclusion across the country, rose to 64.2 in March 2024, showing growth across all parameters. The index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as bolstering the case for monetary policy easing, China's consumer prices increased less than expected in June and producer prices continued to decline. The consumer price index logged an annual increase of 0.2 percent in June, following a 0.3 percent gain in May. Prices were forecast to climb 0.4 percent. On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.2 percent after easing 0.1 percent in May.

Back home, telecom sector stocks were in watch, as Ministry of Communications has said that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Telecom and Networking Products and for Large Scale Electronic Manufacturing of Electronics have led to a significant increase in production, employment generation, economic growth, and exports in the country. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79802.74, down by 548.90 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 79435.76 and 80481.36. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.58%, while Small cap index was down by 0.87%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.18% and Power up by 0.09%, while Metal down by 1.72%, Auto down by 1.63%, Basic Materials down by 1.14%, IT down by 1.01%, Consumer Disc down by 0.96% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.57%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.10%, Asian Paints up by 0.69%, Titan up by 0.60% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 6.49%, TCS down by 2.00%, Tata Steel down by 1.80%, HCL Tech. down by 1.62% and JSW Steel down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that Industrial and warehouse logistics park (IWLP) supply is estimated to grow 13-14 per cent year-on-year at around 424 million square feet this fiscal (FY25) in the eight primary markets, driven by strong demand. The vacancy in the eight primary markets stood at 10 per cent in FY24 and is likely to remain at a similar level in FY25. It also said the absorption is likely to be 47 million square feet in FY25 as compared to 37 million square feet in the previous fiscal. Moreover, it said conferring the 'infrastructure' status to the logistics and warehousing sector, rapid expansion of new-age sectors like e-commerce and allied services, growing needs of the massive consumption market, and the government's focus on making India a manufacturing hub have resulted in a steep uptick in warehousing demand.

According to the report, the sector continues to witness a sustained demand from third-party logistics (3PL) and manufacturing sectors, which together accounted for around 65 per cent of the total leased area as of March 2024 while the share of e-commerce stood at 15 per cent. It also said that among the eight primary markets, around 42 of the warehousing stock as of March 2024 was contributed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR while the overall occupancy remained healthy at around 90 per cent.
Noting that notwithstanding the favourable growth prospects, the steep increase in land prices poses a challenge for the players, the report said the rentals across the key markets remain competitive, a result of the presence of many domestic and global players and the emergence of new micro markets.  Thus, land cost remains a critical factor in deciding the profitability of a warehousing project. With significant increase in land prices in tier-1 cities in recent years, tier-II and tier-III are emerging as more cost-effective destinations for new Grade A warehousing developments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24275.80, down by 157.40 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 24141.80 and 24461.05. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.91%, Britannia up by 1.70%, Divi's Lab up by 1.59%, Power Grid up by 1.51% and SBI Life Insurance up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 6.51%, Hindalco down by 2.20%, Tata Steel down by 1.86%, TCS down by 1.84% and JSW Steel down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 25.6 points or 0.35% to 7,295.40, Straits Times rose 25.7 points or 0.74% to 3,451.79, KOSPI increased 0.61 points or 0.02% to 2,867.99, Nikkei 225 surged 251.82 points or 0.6% to 41,831.99 and Taiwan Weighted added 107 points or 0.45% to 24,007.08, while Hang Seng declined 17.76 points or 0.1% to 17,505.47 and Shanghai Composite weakened 19.44 points or 0.66% to 2,939.93.