Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, driven by gains in Healthcare, Utilities and TECK stocks. Traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that President-elect Donald Trump is a ‘friend of India’ and India-US friendship will only continue to blossom and grow further. The minister also said he does not foresee any problems in the Indo-US partnership, and exuded confidence that it would further strengthen with the new administration taking over in Washington. However, gains remain capped as exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 11,756.25 crore in the capital markets on net basis on Thursday. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of India’s GDP growth data for the latest July-September 2024 quarter (Q2 FY25) to be out later in the day. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as investors ponder over Donald Trump's tariff policies and look for more signals on the pace of future Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79277.56, up by 233.82 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 79026.18 and 79534.36. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.11%, while Small cap index was down by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.93%, Utilities up by 0.71%, TECK up by 0.55%, IT up by 0.39% and Auto up by 0.34%, while Realty down by 0.43%, PSU down by 0.31%, Bankex down by 0.16%, Telecom down by 0.16% and Metal down by 0.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.83%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.52%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.28%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.17% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.09%, HDFC Bank down by 0.42%, ITC down by 0.34%, SBI down by 0.29% and Indusind Bank down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings has said that the drop in the prices of steel will impact the operating profitability of primary steel producers in the domestic market. Early-stage steel produced from iron ore is referred as primary steel. It stated despite an increase in sales volume and lower cost pressures, mainly due to reduced coking coal prices, the operating profit margin will remain at 15-16 percent in the current financial year. 

Crisil Ratings Director Ankit Hakhu said ‘Lower realisations and flat operating margin will likely drag absolute Ebitda for primary steelmakers 5-7 percent lower this fiscal, at a time of substantial growth capex’. Domestic steel prices are likely to drop 10 percent on average this fiscal from Rs 57,500 per tonne last fiscal. The first half of this fiscal has already seen average domestic steel prices fall eight per cent from last fiscal's average.

While domestic demand is healthy, global steel demand is likely to contract for the third consecutive fiscal. This is resulting in rising imports - particularly from China, where demand remains muted - which are pressuring realisations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23987.00, up by 72.85 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 23927.15 and 24072.15. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.08%, Sun Pharma up by 1.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.57%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25% and Tata Consumer Product up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 1.33%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.09%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.88%, Coal India down by 0.78% and HDFC Bank down by 0.45% were the top losers. 

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 195.14 points or 0.51% to 38,153.92, KOSPI dropped 32.54 points or 1.3% to 2,472.13, Straits Times fell 21.83 points or 0.58% to 3,715.42, Jakarta Composite plunged 84.78 points or 1.18% to 7,115.38.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 52.5 points or 1.57% to 3,348.20, Taiwan Weighted added 110.65 points or 0.5% to 22,409.55 and Hang Seng advanced 249.48 points or 1.27% to 19,616.44.