Markets trade higher in early deals; Realty, Oil & Gas lead

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Tuesday despite weakness in global peers. Markets are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals on account of buying in Realty, Oil & Gas and Energy stocks. Traders got some support with private report stating that investors have been pouring money into India’s stock market, and it could grow to more than $5 trillion to become the fifth largest in the world within three years. It added Indian start-ups have raised $10 billion through IPOs so far this year - more money than was raised in the last three years.  Additionally, India has climbed two spots to 46 in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 prepared by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The country’s rank has been consistently rising in the last few years. From 81 in 2015, it has moved to 46 in 2021. However, upside remained capped with report that Icra Ratings said with the benefits of unlocking measures tapering out, high-frequency indicators have become uneven since August. The performance of the high-frequency indicators in August 2021 was decidedly uneven, especially when compared to the pre-COVID levels.

Most of the Asian markets are lower in thin holiday trading following the firmly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders indulged in bargain hunting, even as sinking crude oil prices and worries about potential collapse of Chinese real estate firm Evergrande dented sentiment. Traders also continued to track updates about the spread in the delta variant of the coronavirus in the region. The South Korean market is closed until Wednesday on account of Chuseok Festival, while markets in Taiwan and China are closed for Mid-Autumn Festival.

Back home, IT stocks were in focus as exports of software services, including services delivered by foreign affiliates of Indian companies, recorded 2.1 per cent growth during 2020-21 and stood at $148.3 billion, as per a Reserve Bank survey released. In scrip specific development, HCL Technologies gained as it announced a five-year, digital transformation deal with MKS Instruments Inc., a global provider of instruments, systems, subsystems, and solutions for advanced manufacturing processes, to improve performance, productivity, and speed to market.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58623.15, up by 132.22 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 58488.71 and 58779.42. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.07%, Oil & Gas up by 1.08%, Energy up by 0.84%, PSU up by 0.65%, Metal up by 0.59%, while Utilities down by 0.65%, Power down by 0.61%, Auto down by 0.55%, Consumer Durables down by 0.39%, Bankex down by 0.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.33%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.29%, NTPC up by 1.18%, Asian Paints up by 1.05% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.66%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.63%, Axis Bank down by 0.53%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.49% and ICICI Bank down by 0.49% were the top losers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17446.70, up by 49.80 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 17390.55 and 17481.10. There were 36 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.74%, Coal India up by 1.91%, JSW Steel up by 1.70%, HCL Technologies up by 1.40% and Asian Paints up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.61%, Axis Bank down by 0.48%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.48%, HDFC Bank down by 0.43% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 575.80 points or 1.89% to 29,924.25, Hang Seng declined 74.10 points or 0.31% to 24,025.04 and Jakarta Composite was down by 49.71 points or 0.82% to 6,026.61, while Straits Times added 13.18 points or 0.43% to 3,054.91.