Benchmarks trade in fine-fettle in early deals; Realty stocks lead

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up start on Thursday following firm cues from global peers. Markets are trading in fine-fettle with gains of around 0.80% each in early deals on account of buying in all the sector indices led by Realty, PSU and Metal stocks. Sentiments got a boost with the commerce and industry ministry’s statement that foreign direct investment equity inflow into the country more than doubled to $20.42 billion during the April-July period of the current fiscal. Total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow rose to $27.37 billion during the first four months of 2021-22. Some support came in as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das underlined the need for a big push to infrastructure investment, education and digital economy to achieve sustainable growth and generate jobs in smaller cities. Meanwhile, India recorded a spike of 31,957 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The country also witnessed 279 deaths, taking the death toll to 446,080.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, amid climbing crude oil prices and easing concerns about the impact of Chinese real estate major Evergrande's debt woes. Traders are also digesting the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and concerns about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in the region. The Japanese stock market is closed on Thursday for the Autumnal Equinox.

Back home, Oil & Gas industry stocks were in focus as the government in its latest data showed that India's crude oil production fell 2.3 per cent in August but natural gas output rose by more than a fifth on the back of output from KG-D6 fields of Reliance-BP. In scrip specific development, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone gained as it acquired Andhra Pradesh government's 10.4 per cent stake in Gangavaram Port for Rs 644.78 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59380.36, up by 453.03 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 59243.15 and 59429.14. There were 26 stocks advancing, while 4 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 1.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.55%, PSU up by 1.45%, Metal up by 1.38%, Bankex up by 1.34%, Industrials up by 1.24%, while there was no loser.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.28%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.52%, Nestle up by 1.30%, Titan Company up by 1.11% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.07%, while there was no loser.

Meanwhile, the commerce and industry ministry has said foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into the country grew by 112 per cent in the first four months (April-July) of 2021-22 ($20.42 billion) compared to the year ago period ($9.61 billion). Total FDI inflow rose to $27.37 billion during the first four months of 2021-22. In the year-ago period, the same was at $16.92 billion. Total FDI comprises equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital.

The ministry said Automobile industry has emerged as the top sector during the period under review, accounting for 23 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflows followed by computer software & hardware (18 per cent) and services sector (10 per cent), respectively.

Karnataka is the top recipient state with 45 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflows followed by Maharashtra (23 per cent) and Delhi (12 per cent). The ministry said measures taken by the government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17690.25, up by 143.60 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 17646.55 and 17700.00. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.42%, Tata Motors up by 2.43%, Axis Bank up by 2.41%, SBI up by 2.21% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.84%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.26% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.11% were the only losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Straits Times jumped 25.99 points or 0.85% to 3,074.04, Hang Seng rose 149.33 points or 0.62% to 24,370.87, Taiwan Weighted surged 159.28 points or 0.94% to 17,085.10, Jakarta Composite added 21.57 points or 0.35% to 6,129.84 and Shanghai Composite was up by 21.08 points or 0.58% to 3,649.57, while KOSPI fell 10.68 points or 0.34% to 3,129.83.