Sensex, Nifty trade flat in early deals ahead of F&O expiry

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Thursday following overnight losses on Wall Street as well as weakness in Asian counterparts, as data showed U.S. consumer price inflation accelerated in line with estimates, renewing concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Also, some volatility witnessed in the markets ahead of the monthly expiry of futures & options contracts on the NSE scheduled for today. Sensex and Nifty are trading flat in early deals as selling in IT and TECK stocks dragged markets whereas buying in Utilities and Power counters kept down side in check. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 7.78 crore on November 27. Besides, broader indices - BSE Mid & Small cap indices are outperforming larger peers with solid gains.

Traders took some engouement as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said India’s fiscal deficit is expected to be 19 basis points lower at 4.75% of the gross domestic product (GDP) than budgeted in 2024-25, due to fiscal discipline and slower economic activity in the first half of the year. On the sectoral front, paper industry stocks are in focus as Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) expressed concerns over rising imports of virgin fibre paperboard from countries like China and Chile, saying that below-cost shipments are hitting local producers and threatening their investments. In stock specific development, KEC International climbed to hit a fresh 52-week high as it secured turnkey orders of Rs 1,704 crore in its Transmission & Distribution (T&D) business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80202.48, down by 31.60 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 80144.85 and 80329.08. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.36%, Power up by 1.07%, Realty up by 1.04%, Basic Materials up by 0.75% and Industrials up by 0.74%, while IT down by 0.95%, TECK down by 0.92%, Auto down by 0.33%, Telecom down by 0.06% and Healthcare down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.80%, HDFC Bank up by 1.16%, ITC up by 0.80%, SBI up by 0.75% and Indusind Bank up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.47%, Infosys down by 1.39%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.28%, Power Grid down by 0.90% and HCL Technologies down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency India Ratings and Research (IndRa) has said that the government will be able to register the fiscal deficit at 4.75 per cent in FY25, 0.19 per cent lower than the budget aim, by reigning in expenditure. It added the revenue expenditure, excluding subsidies, will be 0.12 per cent of GDP, lower than the budget estimate. Its chief economist and head of public finance Devendra Kumar Pant said the government capital expenditure will come out to be Rs 62,000 crore lower than the estimate of Rs 11.11 trillion.

Pant was quick to add that the government capex will still be 10.6 per cent higher than the yearago period. The government was initially envisaging a 17.6 per cent growth in the key number. Even as there is a dip in the government capital expenditure projected, the capex to GDP in FY25 at 3.21 per cent is estimated to be at a twodecade high. It said ‘The FY25 capex growth has been impacted by the general elections in May 2024, and capex in 1H FY25 shrank 15.42 per cent yearonyear. To achieve the FY25 (BE) target, capex in 2H FY25 must grow 52.04 per cent, which appears to be a daunting task’.

It said among ministries, railways, and road, transport and highways will breach their FY25 capex allocations. There will be a slippage of 0.10 per cent of GDP on the subsidies front due to higher outgoes on food, fertiliser and petroleum subsidies, the agency said, pointing that the overall spending has been 54.55 per cent higher than the budgeted levels in the first half of the fiscal. On the revenue expenditure, excluding subsidies, the rating agency said actual spending by 43 ministries other than civil aviation, railways, and road, transport and highways in the AprilSeptember period was less than 40 per cent of their allocation.

It said the FY25 gross and net tax revenue will come at 12.02 per cent of GDP and 8.08 per cent of GDP, respectively, which will be a 17year high, and added that income tax and corporate tax are estimated to contribute 80.94 per cent and 10.53 per cent, respectively, to the additional gross tax revenue. It noted that nontax revenue and disinvestment receipts are to be lower than the budgeted amount of Rs 5.46 trillion and Rs 78,000 crore, respectively, in FY25.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24277.30, up by 2.40 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 24254.35 and 24323.05. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.55%, Shriram Finance up by 1.59%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.34%, Coal India up by 1.16% and HDFC Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.64%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.39%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.29%, Infosys down by 1.19% and Power Grid down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 270.47 points or 1.4% to 19,332.66, Taiwan Weighted lost 83.35 points or 0.37% to 22,251.43, Jakarta Composite plunged 26.55 points or 0.37% to 7,219.34, Shanghai Composite weakened 9.91 points or 0.3% to 3,299.87 and KOSPI was down by 0.19 points or 0.01% to 2,502.87. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 257.05 points or 0.67% to 38,392.02 and Straits Times was up by 7.02 points or 0.19% to 3,715.11.