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Indian equity benchmarks cut more gains during late morning session but remained higher, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in green terrain. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to maintain trade in green terrain. However, gains got trimmed, as traders got cautious amid reports that a majority of CFOs interviewed see the long-term and financial impact of the global pandemic as one of their top challenges over the next three years. According to a survey, the most pressing issue at hand for CFOs (chief financial officers) is long-term business and financial impact of global pandemic, with almost 80 per cent of respondents listing this as their top challenge over the next three years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, as consumer prices in China were down 0.2 percent on year in February. The National Bureau of Statistics said that exceeded expectations for a decline of 0.4 percent and was up from -0.3 percent in the previous month. On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 0.6 percent - again beating forecasts for a gain of 0.4 percent but down from 1.0 percent a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51143.72, up by 118.24 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 51141.86 and 51430.43. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.31%, IT up by 1.20%, TECK up by 1.09%, Telecom up by 0.85% and Realty up by 0.85%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.96%, Energy down by 0.65%, Utilities down by 0.54%, PSU down by 0.34% and Power down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 1.98%, Indusind Bank up by 1.95%, HCL Tech up by 1.52%, Titan Company up by 1.39% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.36%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.61%, Reliance Industries down by 0.66%, ITC down by 0.39%, HDFC Bank down by 0.28% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Investors Service in its latest report has said that although Indian renewable energy companies failed to meet generation targets in fiscal years 2019 and 2020 that ended in March 2019 and March 2020 respectively, they will be able to withstand the impact of this under performance thanks to large and diversified portfolios. It said about 15%-20% of Indian wind and solar projects did not meet capacity utilization targets in fiscal years 2019 and 2020 because of wind generation curtailments and lower irradiance for solar projects, which were responsible for 56% and 68% of the underperformance respectively. As a result, rated renewable energy companies’ EBITDA declined 2%-5.6% in fiscal 2020.

It said nevertheless, all rated issuers have undertaken multiple projects, and thus their credit quality benefits from portfolio diversification, which reduces the impact of individual projects. Moody’s analyzed 176 projects totaling 11,462MW across five rated companies - Greenko Energy Holdings (GEH, Ba1 stable), ReNew Power Private Limited (RPPL, Ba2 stable), Adani Renewable Energy (Rj) Limited (AGEL RG, Ba1 negative), Azure Power Energy Ltd (Azure RG1, Ba2 stable) and Azure Power Solar Energy Private Limited (Azure RG2, Ba1 negative).

Despite missed targets, India reported a healthy 20% growth in renewable energy generation over the past five years. Specifically, wind and solar generation grew at a compound annual growth rate of 20% in fiscal years 2015-20, increasing their share of electricity generation in India thanks to declining development costs, strong policy support and investor interest in the sector. Still, if India wants to achieve its target of 175-gigawatt renewable energy capacity by the end of fiscal 2022, Moody’s said it will need to increase renewable energy’s share of electricity generation to around 16%-18% from 10% in December 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15130.85, up by 32.45 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 15126.40 and 15218.45. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 2.87%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.06%, Indusind Bank up by 1.85%, Tata Motors up by 1.81% and Wipro up by 1.69%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.48%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.03%, UPL down by 1.66%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.65% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Hang Seng increased 130.77 points or 0.45% to 28,904.00, Jakarta Composite soared 57.76 points or 0.93% to 6,257.41, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 48.83 points or 0.31% to 15,901.92 and Shanghai Composite gained 22.55 points or 0.67% to 3,381.84. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 16.73 points or 0.06% to 29,011.21, KOSPI fell 17.73 points or 0.6% to 2,958.39 and Straits Times trembled 29.03 points or 0.93% to 3,079.50.

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