Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by strong gains in index majors Asian Paints, TCS and Reliance Industries. Sentiments remained positive with Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) stated that services sector exports are likely to touch $350 billion in the current fiscal. It said the target has been revised from $300 billion to $350 billion for 2022-23 and is set in consideration to the sectors which couldn't perform in the last 2 years due to the pandemic and hopefully will bounce back in FY23, like travel and tourism, hospitality, education and entertainment. Besides, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that India should aspire to become a high-income country by 2047 and this would need sustained economic growth year after year. However, there was some cautiousness too as dismissing the contention that currency devaluation encourages exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said weakening of the rupee would not be in the nation's interest in the long run.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as the market pondered a burgeoning debate around whether inflation is peaking that sparked a rally in Treasuries. Back home, stocks related to cement industry remained in watch as report by ICRA said the cement demand is expected to grow by 7-8 per cent to around 382 million metric tonnes in the current fiscal, helped by tailwinds of strong demand from rural housing and infrastructure sectors.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57457.92, up by 420.42 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 57311.86 and 57537.30. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 1.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.20%, IT up by 1.18%, Industrials up by 1.04%, TECK up by 1.02% and Energy up by 0.99%, while Metal down by 0.09% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.98%, TCS up by 1.72%, Reliance Industries up by 1.62%, Infosys up by 1.44% and Indusind Bank up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.02%, Tata Steel down by 0.95%, Axis Bank down by 0.47%, ICICI Bank down by 0.37% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva has said a high growth rate for India, as projected in the latest World Economic Outlook, is not only healthy for the country but also positive news for the world.

The IMF, early this week, projected a fairly robust growth of 8.2 per cent for India in 2022, making it the fastest-growing major economy in the world, almost twice faster than China’s 4.4 per cent. The global growth has been projected at 3.6 per cent in 2022, down from 6.1 per cent in 2021.

Georgieva stated India is one of the economies that are growing at a high rate. Even with the small downgrade, growth is projected for this year to be 8.2 percent. Healthy for India, but also positive in a world where growth slowdown is creating a major problem.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17248.75, up by 112.20 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 17215.50 and 17276.30. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.29%, Asian Paints up by 1.97%, Reliance Industries up by 1.90%, TCS up by 1.55% and Indusind Bank up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.58%, Tata Steel down by 1.05%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.83%, JSW Steel down by 0.80% and ONGC down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 315.06 points or 1.16% to 27,532.91, Jakarta Composite soared 36.42 points or 0.5% to 7,263.78, Straits Times advanced 15.40 points or 0.46% to 3,350.72 and KOSPI rose 12.65 points or 0.47% to 2,731.34. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 30.20 points or 0.18% to 17,118.68, Shanghai Composite declined 50.31 points or 1.6% to 3,100.74 and Hang Seng decreased 364.01 points or 1.74% to 20,580.66.