Bears dominate Dalal Street; NTPC sparkles over 3%

Bears continued to hold their grip over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, amid negative cues from other Asian markets along with selling at Banking and Consumer Durables counters. Traders were cautious, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest monthly bulletin-February 2025 has said that the global economy continues to grow at a steady but moderate pace, with divergent outlook across countries amid rapidly evolving political and technological landscapes. Besides, financial markets remain on edge on the slowing pace of disinflation and the potential impact of tariffs. Emerging market economies (EMEs) are witnessing selling pressures from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and currency depreciation engendered by a strong US dollar. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, after Indonesia's central bank left its interest rate unchanged on Wednesday after cutting the rate by a quarter-point last month, and hinted at further reduction this year. The Bank Indonesia Board, led by Governor Perry Warjiyo, decided to maintain the BI rate at 5.75 percent, as widely expected. The bank had reduced the rate in January, which was the first reduction since September 2024.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75759.77, down by 179.41 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 75463.01 and 75794.15. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.81%, while Small cap index was up by 1.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.32%, Power up by 2.01%, Metal up by 1.54%, PSU up by 1.52% and Oil & Gas up by 1.28%, while Bankex down by 0.53%, Consumer Durables down by 0.20%, FMCG down by 0.17% and TECK down by 0.12% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.27%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.41%, Tata Motors up by 1.37% and Tata Steel up by 1.10%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.03%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.95%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.95%, ITC down by 0.91% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings in its latest report has said that India's power sector - the biggest carbon emitter - will need massive $700 billion investment over the next 10 years to help the country achieve its 2070 net-zero pledge. Stating that the power sector accounts for around 37 per cent of carbon emissions in the country, it said the investments required by the power sector during fiscal 2026-51 to be of the order of 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of GDP (around 2 per cent for the next 10 years), which is manageable for India. 

According to the report, the sector, which currently is highly dependent on coal-fired generation, has to make significant decarbonization investments for the country to meet its emission cut goals. It said ‘our expectation of strong economic growth over the next 10 years implies an expansion of India's coal-based power generation capacity in that period, hindering carbon transition.’

Moody's pegged power sector's annual investment requirement between Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 6.4 lakh crore ($53 billion to $76 billion) of investment until fiscal 2034-35 (fiscal year ending March 2035), and around Rs 6 lakh crore to Rs 9 lakh crore annually over fiscal 2026-51. It said ‘we estimate India's power sector investments would be in the range of Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 6.4 lakh crore ($53 billion to $76 billion) until fiscal 2034-35 (total investment of around $700 billion over the next 10 years), and Rs 6.0 lakh crore to Rs 9.5 lakh crore annually over fiscal 2025-51’.

The report said the power sector investments include capital spending for electricity generation (including renewable energy, coal and nuclear power), electricity transmission and distribution and energy storage. Annually, this represents 2 per cent of real GDP over the next 10 years, and 1.5-2 per cent of GDP over fiscal 2026-51. These investments are significant and will be funded jointly by the public and private sectors and foreign and domestic capital.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22903.60, down by 29.30 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 22812.75 and 22914.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.32%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.53%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.32%, Hindalco up by 2.12% and Shriram Finance up by 2.12%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.06%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.45%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.98% and ITC down by 0.87% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng declined 249.74 points or 1.09% to 22,694.50, Jakarta Composite plunged 2.52 points or 0.04% to 6,792.35, Shanghai Composite weakened 0.45 points or 0.01% to 3,351.09, Straits Times fell 6.53 points or 0.17% to 3,927.51, KOSPI dropped 24.40 points or 0.91% to 2,647.12, Nikkei 225 slipped 536.24 points or 1.37% to 38,628.37 and Taiwan Weighted lost 116.62 points or 0.5% to 23,487.46.