Sensex, Nifty remain weak during early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained weak in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, on the back of mixed cues from other Asian markets along with selling at Realty and Telecom counters. Traders were cautious amid a private report stating that India’s urban-rural income gap has increased over the last seven years, as urban incomes have outpaced rural areas for both salaried and self-employed people. Besides, Moody’s said that nearly half of India’s population will reside in areas vulnerable to inland or coastal flooding. The international firm noted that while 622 million people or 44 percent of the population will be prone to inland flooding, another 48 million will be prone to coastal flooding.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as Japan's leading index increased less than initially estimated in July from a 7-month low in June. The latest data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, rose to 109.3 in July from 109.1 in the previous month. In the flash report, the score was 109.5. Meanwhile, the coincident index rose to 117.2 in July from 114.1 a month ago. The latest reading was revised up from 117.1. The coincident index measures the current economic situation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 85701.69, down by 134.43 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 85690.85 and 85978.25. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.90%, Metal up by 0.88%, Basic Materials up by 0.82%, IT up by 0.78% and Oil & Gas up by 0.73%, while Realty down by 2.09%, Telecom down by 0.92%, Bankex down by 0.50% and Capital Goods down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan up by 2.34%, Sun Pharma up by 2.24%, HCL Tech. up by 1.67%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.67% and Asian Paints up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.51%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.75%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.15% and HDFC Bank down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said that the Centre has retained its borrowing target for the current financial year and plans to raise Rs 6.61 lakh crore through auction of dated securities during for the second half of the fiscal year 2024-25 (H2 FY25) to fund the revenue gap to boost economic growth. Out of Gross Market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore budgeted for 2024-25, Rs 6.61 lakh crore (47.2 per cent) is planned to be borrowed in for H2 FY25 through issuance of dated securities, including Rs 20,000 crore of Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs).  

The gross market borrowing of Rs 6.61 lakh crore shall be completed through 21 weekly auctions. The market borrowing will be spread over 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30, 40 and 50 year securities. The share of borrowing (including SGrBs) under different maturities will be 3-year (5.3 per cent), 5-year (10.6 per cent), 7-year (7.6 per cent), 10-year (24.8 per cent), 15-year (13.2 per cent), 30-year (12.1 per cent), 40-year (15.9 per cent) and 50-year (10.6 per cent). The government will carry out switching/buyback of securities to smoothen the redemption profile. It will continue to reserve the right to exercise greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription of up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notifications.

Weekly borrowing through issuance of Treasury Bills in the third quarter of 2024-25 is expected to be Rs 19,000 crore for 13 weeks with issuance of Rs 7,000 crore under 91 dated treasury bills (DTBs), Rs 6,000 crore under 182 DTBs and Rs 6,000 crore under 364 DTBs. To take care of temporary mismatches in government accounts, the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit for H2 of FY 2024-25 at Rs 50,000 crore. Out of the gross market borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore estimated for 2024-25, Rs 7.4 lakh crore, or 52.8 per cent, is already raised in first half (H1).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 26214.00, down by 2.05 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 26206.95 and 26277.35. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.93%, Cipla up by 2.91%, Sun Pharma up by 2.22%, Titan up by 2.22% and Hindalco up by 2.08%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.45%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.79%, HDFC Bank down by 1.12% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite plunged 53.77 points or 0.7% to 7,690.75, Straits Times fell 12.46 points or 0.35% to 3,569.77, KOSPI dropped 21.79 points or 0.82% to 2,649.78 and Taiwan Weighted lost 36.02 points or 0.16% to 22,822.79, while Hang Seng advanced 596.71 points or 2.91% to 20,521.29, Shanghai Composite strengthened 86.58 points or 2.8% to 3,087.53 and Nikkei 225 surged 903.93 points or 2.27% to 39,829.56.