Benchmarks trade firm in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Tuesday tracking overnight sharp fall in crude oil prices. Markets are trading firm in early with investors keenly watching Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey later in the day for any cues on de-escalation of the conflict. Traders took encouragement as Commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has opened huge opportunities and businesses of both countries should look at taking the bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2030. Some support also came in as Sumant Sinha, the newly elected president of Assocham, said that India needs a strong contract-enforcement agency, a simple GST regime and simplified taxation process along with a stable policy environment to significantly improve ease of doing business. However, upside remained capped as the latest public debt management report showed that the government’s total liabilities rose to Rs 128.41 lakh crore in December quarter from Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the three months ended September 2021.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher riding on the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with technology and financial stocks leading the way higher as hopes about a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine helped offset concerns about inflation and imminent monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. Russia and Ukraine are set to resume diplomatic talks in Turkey later on Tuesday. News about a surge in coronavirus in China, and Shanghai's decision to impose fresh lockdown measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 infections weighed a bit on sentiment.

Back home, coal industry stocks were in focus as ICRA said the price of imported coal is poised to rise by 45-55 per cent in the first quarter of FY23 as markets face supply disruption following the Russia-Ukraine conflict and it would severely impact domestic users of imported dry fuel. In scrip specific development, RIL gained as its arm Reliance Jio is in advanced talks with South Korean consumer electronics and telecom gear maker Samsung for the latter to be its third party technology provider, complementing Reliance Jio’s efforts to roll out a 5G network across the country.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57882.08, up by 288.59 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 57726.28 and 57934.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.91%, Basic Materials up by 0.89%, Industrials up by 0.88%, Healthcare up by 0.83%, Auto up by 0.82%, while Metal down by 0.43%, Energy down by 0.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.24% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.11%, HDFC up by 2.00%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.91%, Asian Paints up by 1.80% and Power Grid up by 0.90%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.47%, Axis Bank down by 0.18% and Tata Steel down by 0.09% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal has stated that the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has opened huge opportunities and noted that businesses of both countries should look at taking the bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2030. He added that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February and is expected to come into force from May 1.

He said ‘We should reset our goals and look for much much broader canvas in which this partnership should work and possibly look at going up to $250 billion between UAE and India by 2030’. Under the pact, domestic exporters of as many as 6,090 goods from sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery would get duty-free access to the UAE market.

He also said that India is looking at increasing exports in goods and services to $2 trillion and the UAE would play a key role in achieving that target. He said that the UAE is a door for tapping other markets from Europe and Africa. Talking about India’s goods exports, he said it would cross $410 billion by end of this fiscal. Services exports too are doing great and these may reach $250 billion by end of the current fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17309.50, up by 87.50 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 17260.85 and 17322.25. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 2.21%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.15%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.13%, Shree Cement up by 2.05% and HDFC up by 2.02%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.21%, Coal India down by 1.83%, Hindalco down by 0.62%, ITC down by 0.37% and JSW Steel down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 151.46 points or 0.54% to 28,095.35, Hang Seng jumped 113.52 points or 0.52% to 21,798.49, Taiwan Weighted added 0.27 points to 17,520.28 and KOSPI rose 7.03 points or 0.26% to 2,736.59. On the other hand, Straits Times fell 7.17 points or 0.21% to 3,424.82, Jakarta Composite declined 11.57 points or 0.16% to 7,038.03 and Shanghai Composite was down by 13.85 points or 0.43% to 3,200.65.