Benchmarks trade higher in early deals on promising IIP, CPI data

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets are trading higher in early deals with gains of around half a percent each on account of buying in FMCG, Capital Goods and Metal stocks. Promising inflation and industrial production data aided the sentiments in the markets. Industrial output for the month of June rose 13.6 per cent, in a sign that the low base effect of the last year is waning, mainly due to a low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors but the output remained below the pre-pandemic level. Also, retail price inflation rate fell to a three-month low of 5.59 per cent in July from 6.26 per cent the previous month, due to a slower price rise in food items, particularly vegetables. Adding optimism, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assured India Inc that it is ready to do everything required to revive and support economic growth hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, India recorded 40,078 new Covid-19 cases and 583 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 32,117,052 and the death toll to 430,285.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading lower ignoring the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street as traders remain concerned over the recent regulatory crackdown in China and the alarming spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variants in the region, which will impact the pace of the global economy recovery from the pandemic. Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus as trade body AISTA said sugar mills have exported 5.11 million tonnes of the sweetener so far in the ongoing 2020-21 marketing year ending September, with maximum shipments to Indonesia. In scrip specific development, Tata Steel gained as it posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 9,768.34 crore for June quarter 2021-22. In the year-ago period, the company incurred a net loss of Rs 4,648.13 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55094.04, up by 250.06 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 54905.49 and 55108.75. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.76%, Capital Goods up by 0.70%, Metal up by 0.68%, Basic Materials up by 0.60%, Energy up by 0.58%, while Healthcare down by 0.60%, Realty down by 0.28%, Telecom down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.30%, HDFC up by 1.15%, ITC up by 1.10%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.86% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.09%, Sun Pharma down by 0.99%, Power Grid down by 0.91%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.68% and HCL Technologies down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, auto industry body -- Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has said Passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased by 45 per cent to 2,64,442 units in July against 1,82,779 units in the same month last year.

According to the latest data by SIAM, two-wheeler dispatches from the OEMs to dealerships declined by 2 per cent to 12,53,937 units in July, compared to 12,81,354 units in the year-ago period. Motorcycle sales were at 8,37,096 units last month as against 8,88,520 units in July 2020, down 6 per cent.

Scooter sales increased 10 per cent to 3,66,292 units from 3,34,288 units. Similarly, three-wheeler sales surged 41 per cent to 17,888 units last month as against 12,728 units a year ago. The total sales across categories, excluding commercial vehicles, stood at 15,36,269 units compared to 14,76,861 units in July last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16442.05, up by 77.65 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 16376.30 and 16446.25. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.24%, Hindalco up by 1.49%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.34%, ITC up by 1.27% and HDFC up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.02%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.91%, Power Grid down by 0.88%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.82% and Divi's Lab down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times slipped 22.57 points or 0.71% to 3,160.23, Hang Seng lost 196.61 points or 0.74% to 26,321.21, Taiwan Weighted declined 192.99 points or 1.12% to 17,026.95, KOSPI slipped 46.93 points or 1.46% to 3,161.45, Jakarta Composite fell 5.24 points or 0.09% to 6,134.41 and Shanghai Composite was down by 8.98 points or 0.25% to 3,515.76, while Nikkei 225 added 2.97 points or 0.01% to 28,017.99.