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Local equity benchmarks managed to keep their head above water in noon deals with both Sensex and Nifty were trading above 56600 and 16850 marks, respectively. Some solace came as rating agency Icra retained its India’s previous growth forecast of 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal, citing revival in contact-intensive services and a pick-up in government and private expenditure. Also, appreciating rupee too supported traders’ sentiment as Bank of England decides to buy long-dated bonds prompted a retreat in U.S. yields and the dollar. Traders were seen in buying positions as Metal, Healthcare and Oil & Gas, while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and IT stocks. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed tracking overnight recovery on Wall Street, but concerns over rising interest rates and a looming recession kept the outlook dim.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56647.37, up by 49.09 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 56604.18 and 57166.14. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.61%, Healthcare up by 1.36%, Oil & Gas up by 1.11%, Energy up by 1.03% and FMCG was up by 0.91%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.55%, Capital Goods down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.11%, Bankex down by 0.05% and Auto was down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.42%, Sun Pharma up by 2.29%, ITC up by 2.25%, Tata Steel up by 1.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.11%, Titan Co down by 1.56%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.33%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.09% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency CRISIL in its latest report has said that automobile dealers are set to clock their fastest revenue growth in three fiscals with sales accelerating 20-25% on-year on the back of 12-14% volume growth, riding on five cylinders that have been firing well - increasing preference for personal mobility, higher economic activity, easing supply-side constraints, shift in product mix towards higher priced vehicles, and price hikes of 5-7%.  It said higher vehicle sales and greater contribution of the more-profitable ancillary revenue (service, spare parts and insurance) to 10-12% of total income in fiscal 2023 from 8-9% last fiscal will help stabilise operating margin1 at 3-5% (4% in fiscal 2022). This could lead to healthier credit risk profiles.

According to the report, retail auto registrations, which plunged in fiscal 2021 and revived partially in fiscal 2022, continued to recover in the first five months (April-August) of this fiscal with recovery in retail demand and easing of semi-conductor shortages. Recovery in revenue, however, will not be uniform across dealership segments. While passenger vehicle (PV) dealers will continue to show robust recovery, commercial vehicle (CV) and two-wheeler (2W) dealers will grow on a lower base due to subdued sales over the last 2-3 fiscals. PV dealers will see strong volume growth of 17-19% in the current fiscal in line with improved OEM growth outlook2, and increasing average realisation per vehicle due to higher proportion of higher priced utility vehicle sales, leading to overall revenue growth of 24-26%.

The report stated that for CV dealers, volume growth will be 20-22%, on the back of revival in economic activity, higher replacement demand, and the government’s infrastructure push. Price hikes of 4-5%, following higher input costs, will push overall revenue growth in the CV segment to 25-27%. Though reopening of educational institutes and offices have been tailwinds for 2W sales growth this fiscal, slower recovery in rural demand, price hikes and competition from electric two-wheelers will continue to constrain volume growth to 9-11%, leading to a modest revenue growth of 15-18% on a low base of fiscal 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16886.45, up by 27.85 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 16872.20 and 17026.05. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.89%, ONGC up by 2.82%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.62%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.43% and Sun Pharma was up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.14%, Titan Co down by 1.68%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.41%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.25% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 248.07 points or 0.95% to 26,422.05, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 68.19 points or 0.51% to 13,534.26, KOSPI rose 1.62 points or 0.07% to 2,170.91 and Straits Times was up by 31.57 points or 1.01% to 3,147.88.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 14.35 points or 0.47% to 3,030.72, Hang Seng decreased 97.91 points or 0.57% to 17,152.97 and Jakarta Composite was down by 7.16 points or 0.1% to 7,069.87.