Sensex, Nifty remain higher in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained higher in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in green terrain. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain higher. Domestic sentiments were positive, after the Income Tax Department of India said that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds of over Rs 67,401 crore to more than 23.99 lakh taxpayers between April 1 and August 16. It further said that the income tax refunds of Rs 16,373 crore have been issued in 22,61,918 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 51,029 crore have been issued in 1,37,327 cases.

Traders were also positive, as the government is likely to extend an incentive scheme 'the Indian Footwear Leather and Accessories Development Programme (IFLADP)' for leather and footwear industries till 2025-26, to further boost manufacturing, exports and job creation. The commerce and industry ministry has submitted a proposal for implementation of the IFLADP with an outlay of Rs 1,700 crore, to be incurred during 2021-22 to 2025-26, and the Union Cabinet may soon approve the same.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Singapore retail sales increased at a softer pace in July. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that retail sales grew 0.2 percent year-on-year in July, after a 26.0 percent rise in June. Motor vehicle sales declined 9.8 percent annually in July, after an 80.6 percent growth in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58247.77, up by 117.82 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 58200.29 and 58515.85. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.44%, Realty up by 1.17%, Consumer Durables up by 0.88%, Auto up by 0.63% and Industrials up by 0.59%, while Power down by 0.40%, Bankex down by 0.34%, Utilities down by 0.33%, Oil & Gas down by 0.23% and PSU down by 0.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.24%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.16%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.89%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.62% and HCL Tech. up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.85%, NTPC down by 0.73%, Asian Paints down by 0.72%, Indusind Bank down by 0.65% and Sun Pharma down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State (MoS) for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste has said India's crude steel output is expected to soar about 18 per cent to 120 million tonnes (MT) by the end of the ongoing financial year. Also, the demand is expected to cross 100 MT during the current financial year. According to official data, the country produced around 102 MT steel in the financial year 2020-21, registering a fall of 6.1 per cent over FY20, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown necessitated to contain its spread.

Kulaste said ‘India's production of crude steel was at 37.527 MT, a growth of 44.6 per cent, in April-July 2021. This gives me confidence that we will produce around 115 MT-120 MT in FY 2021-22’. Under the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, the government has set a production target of 300 MT by 2030-31. Talking about steel consumption, the minister said it will be more than 100 MT in the current financial year 2021-22. In the financial year ended March 2021, steel consumption stood at 93.43 MT, lower by 6.7 per cent over the previous year due to the impact of the pandemic.

The minister said the government has announced a Rs 100-crore national infrastructure pipeline (NIP). Under the plan, various projects will be implemented across the country where steel will be used in huge quantities. Mega infrastructure projects, such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Bharatmala, Sagarmala and Dedicated Freight Corridors, are already underway which will boost the demand for steel in the country. He further said the government has also taken various measures to promote locally manufactured steel and reduce the country's dependence on imports for sourcing raw materials.

The Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) policy, approved earlier, mandates to provide preference to domestically manufactured iron and steel products in government procurement. The steel scrap recycling policy, which has been notified, aims to secure raw material availability to IF/EAF (induction furnace/electric arc furnace). This will also reduce imports of scrap which is currently seven million tonnes, out of the total demand of 22-25 million tonnes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17355.65, up by 32.05 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 17345.55 and 17429.55. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.32%, Grasim Industries up by 2.07%, Shree Cement up by 2.05%, Cipla up by 1.42% and Wipro up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.02%, Power Grid down by 0.94%, ONGC down by 0.89%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 0.75% and Asian Paints down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 532.10 points or 1.83% to 29,660.21, Hang Seng increased 132.12 points or 0.51% to 26,034.11, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 48.93 points or 0.28% to 17,565.85, Shanghai Composite gained 36.58 points or 1.02% to 3,618.31 and Straits Times advanced 8.92 points or 0.29% to 3,092.77. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 7.50 points or 0.23% to 3,193.56 and Jakarta Composite lost 16.97 points or 0.28% to 6,109.95.