Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Monday tracking firm global cues. Markets are trading in high spirit with gains of around half a percent each in early deals on account of buying in almost all the sector indices, led by IT, TECK and Oil & Gas, except FMCG. Traders took encouragement with a private report that the government said that the country’s agri-exports are estimated to grow 15% in FY22, adding that export of products like rice, meat, cereals and dairy items rose 44.3% on-year to $4.81 billion during April-June 2021. Their exports were $3.33 billion in the year ago period. Some support also came in as investments in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) rose to Rs 1.02 lakh crore till July-end, making it the highest level in last 40 months. This also marks the fourth consecutive monthly growth. Fall in coronavirus cases too aided domestic markets. India recorded 25,420 new Covid-19 cases and 385 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 32,448,969 and the death toll to 434,784.
Most of the Asian markets are trading higher following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders indulged in bargain hunting after last week's sell-off, even amid the uncertainty about the pace of global economic recovery due to surging coronvirus cases in the region and geopolitical concerns following the developments in Afghanistan and China's regulatory curbs.
Back home, metal stocks were in limelight as Icra in its report said that with demand uptick stemming from the government’s thrust on infrastructure, mainly in the rural markets, capacity utilisation for medium and small long steel product manufacturers is expected to improve in the coming quarters. In scrip specific development, shares of Adani Group companies were in focus after the market regulator SEBI kept the proposed Rs 4,500-crore initial share-sale of edible oil major Adani Wilmar in ‘abeyance’. The company had filed preliminary papers with Sebi on August 3, to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO).
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55630.61, up by 301.29 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 55618.26 and 55781.17. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.37%, TECK up by 1.24%, Oil & Gas up by 1.17%, Capital Goods up by 1.06%, Metal up by 1.05%, while FMCG down by 0.09% was the sole losing index on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 3.17%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.70%, TCS up by 1.59%, Tata Steel up by 1.39% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.01%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.73%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.28% and ITC down by 0.07% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, given the uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reserve Bank of India (BRI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has opined that continued policy support with a focus on revival and sustenance of growth was the most desirable and judicious policy option at the moment. Das, according to the minutes of the MPC meeting released, also underlined the need for closely monitoring the price situation with a view to anchoring inflation expectations.
He said ‘the need of the hour is twofold: first, continue the monetary policy support to the economy; and second, remain watchful of any durable inflationary pressures and sustained price momentum in key components so as to bring back the CPI inflation to 4 per cent over a period of time in a non-disruptive manner.’
All members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) -- Shashanka Bhide, Ashima Goyal, Jayanth R Varma, Mridul K Saggar, Michael Debabrata Patra and Shaktikanta Das -- had unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent after the three-day meet of the panel earlier this month. Further, except Varma, other members voted to continue with the accommodative stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis and continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16531.70, up by 81.20 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 16527.30 and 16592.50. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 3.50%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.17%, Wipro up by 2.14%, Hindalco up by 2.07% and TCS up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.49%, Power Grid down by 1.32%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.21%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.09% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.74% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 475.63 points or 1.76% to 27,488.88, Hang Seng jumped 443.71 points or 1.79% to 25,293.43, Taiwan Weighted soared 404.43 points or 2.47% to 16,746.37, KOSPI rose 45.63 points or 1.49% to 3,106.14, Jakarta Composite added 53.04 points or 0.88% to 6,083.81 and Shanghai Composite gained 34.40 points or 1.00% to 3,461.73, while Straits Times was down by 1.15 points or 0.04% to 3,101.60.