Heavy buying interest keeps Indian markets higher in early noon

A heavy buying interest kept Indian equity benchmarks higher in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding around a percent gains. The rally was also aided by positive cues from other Asian markets as the latest weekly jobless claims data came in below forecasts, boosting investors' confidence in the U.S. economy. Sentiments got boost, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest survey report has showed that households’ optimism on economic conditions for the year ahead remained in positive terrain, though it came down from the previous survey round. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after China's consumer price inflation rose more than expected to a five-month high in July amid Beijing struggling to kickstart household consumption as the road to achieve about 5 percent growth target remains challenging. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that consumer prices posted an annual increase of 0.5 percent after rising 0.2 percent in June. Prices were expected to gain 0.3 percent. Food prices ended deflation and posted a flat growth in July driven by the 20.4 percent surge in pork prices. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79677.06, up by 790.84 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 79549.09 and 79984.24. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped by 1.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.67%, Auto up by 1.63%, TECK up by 1.51%, IT up by 1.43% and Consumer discretionary up by 1.29%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.00%, HCL Tech. up by 2.70%, JSW Steel up by 2.66%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.31% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.68%, Indusind Bank down by 0.30% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the aggregate occupancy for its hospital industry’s sample set companies is likely to remain strong at 61-63% in FY2025 (64.7% in FY2024) backed by sustained healthy demand for healthcare services and continued market share gains for organised players. The average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) is expected to witness a moderate growth of 4-6% in FY2025 (after witnessing an expansion of 11% in FY2024), given the high base of the previous year. Improving speciality mix, better payor mix (with a focus on cash and insurance patients) and annual price revisions by companies to offset cost inflation will support the ARPOB growth for the sample set companies. 

Overall, ICRA estimates revenue growth of 12-14% for its sample set companies in FY2025. Improving operating leverage, coupled with continued cost optimisation and digitisation measures, is expected to support a healthy OPM of around 22-23% in FY2025 (23.1% in FY2024). ICRA maintains its Stable outlook on the Indian hospital industry supported by expectations of healthy revenue growth and strong OPM for ICRA’s sample set companies. This is despite the incremental debt to be availed to fund the sizeable bed capacity expansion plans over FY2025 and FY2026. Rising incidence of non-communicable lifestyle diseases, growing per capita spend on healthcare and awareness levels, increasing penetration of health insurance, and higher medical tourism volumes are expected to continue to support the business prospects of industry players going forward.

The in-patient footfalls for ICRA’s sample set companies in FY2024 (barring Q3 FY2024, which witnessed moderation owing to deferrals of elective procedures during the festive season) remained healthy, aided by the strong revival in medical tourism, coupled with changing patient preferences towards large hospitals on the back of increasing insurance coverage. The average length of stay (ALOS) in FY2024 stood at 3.4 days and is expected to remain low, backed by faster throughput of patients, which is also supported by technological advancements.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24354.35, up by 237.35 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 24311.20 and 24419.75. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 5.83%, Grasim Industries up by 3.15%, Tata Motors up by 2.91%, HCL Tech. up by 2.71% and JSW Steel up by 2.55%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.43%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.80%, Asian Paints down by 0.77%, Indusind Bank down by 0.36% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 226.14 points or 1.34% to 17,117.97, Jakarta Composite gained 42.13 points or 0.58% to 7,237.25, KOSPI increased 31.70 points or 1.22% to 2,588.43, Nikkei 225 surged 193.85 points or 0.55% to 35,025.00 and Taiwan Weighted added 598.9 points or 2.79% to 21,469.00, while Shanghai Composite weakened 2.31 points or 0.08% to 2,867.59.