Benchmarks continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals, as global cues weighed on market sentiment. Traders remained cautious as a report by SBI Research, released just days before the government is set to publish the official data, stated that the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.0-7.1 per cent in the April-June period, the first quarter of 2024-25. This growth forecast comes with a downward bias. However, traders took some support with Crisil Ratings’ report stated that small finance banks (SFBs) are expected to grow their loan book by a robust 25-27 per cent this fiscal year (FY25). It stated that growth will be sustained by segmental and geographic expansion supported by a robust and growing presence in semi-urban and rural markets with significant unmet demand. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red, tracking weak cues from global markets. Investors awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium for clues on the U.S. interest-rate cuts this year. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81747.24, up by 49.13 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 81600.51 and 81838.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.71%, Capital Goods up by 0.65%, Healthcare up by 0.54%, Industrials up by 0.53% and IT up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 0.40%, Oil & Gas down by 0.35%, FMCG down by 0.26%, Energy down by 0.19% and Telecom down by 0.04% were top the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.77%, Infosys up by 1.12%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.93%, Sun Pharma up by 0.81% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.46%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.80%, Titan Company down by 0.79%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.77% and Reliance Industries down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that small finance banks (SFBs) are expected to grow their loan book by a robust 25-27 per cent this fiscal year (FY25). However, it said the growth in loan books will be slightly lower than the previous fiscal growth of 28 per cent.

It stated growth will be sustained by segmental and geographic expansion supported by a robust and growing presence in semi-urban and rural markets with significant unmet demand. It said, noting the difficulty of mobilizing deposits, SFBs will probably look into non-deposit alternatives in order to finance credit expansion. The SFBs continue to have healthy capital buffers to sustain growth.

Ajit Velonie, Senior Director, of CRISIL Ratings, said ‘Credit growth in new asset classes is seen at 40 per cent this fiscal, while that in traditional segments will be 20 per cent. With this, the portfolio mix will continue to shift; the share of new segments will cross 40 per cent by March 2025, twice the March 2020 level. Most of this diversification is towards secured asset classes, resulting in the share of secured lending rising, albeit at a moderate pace.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25022.90, up by 12.30 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 24973.65 and 25043.65. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.72%, Cipla up by 1.53%, Infosys up by 1.08%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.89% and Sun Pharma up by 0.82%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.06%, JSW Steel down by 1.05%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.76%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.74% and Titan Co down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 48.41 points or 0.27% to 17,750.32, Jakarta Composite plunged 48.04 points or 0.63% to 7,558.16, Shanghai Composite weakened 10.15 points or 0.36% to 2,845.37, Straits Times fell 9.93 points or 0.29% to 3,386.10, KOSPI dropped 5.82 points or 0.22% to 2,692.19 and Taiwan Weighted lost 100.42 points or 0.45% to 22,139.70.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 38.48 points or 0.1% to 38,148.70.