Local equities trim opening gains; trade slightly higher

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday as global cues remained positive overnight. But, soon markets trimmed some of their gains and are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals due to selling in Healthcare, Realty and Metal stocks, while buying in Power down by 0.29%, Utilities counters capped the downside. Some support came in as the third quarterly employment survey (QES) by the labour ministry showed that employment in nine select non-farm sectors stood at 31.45 million in the October-December 2021 quarter, 0.39 million more than the July-September period and 0.65 million higher than April-June, 2021. Surprisingly, on Thursday, foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers of Indian equitie. According to the provisional data available on exchanges, FPIs bought shares worth $97.2 million on Thursday. Though, cautiousness came in as rating agency ICRA said capacity utilisation in India is expected to dip in the first quarter of current fiscal and is expected to gradually rise by the third quarter, and indicated that the economic recovery will be hurt by the Russia Ukraine tensions, however it will see recovery by the end of the year.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher tracking a broadly positive finish on Wall Street overnight, driven by technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on Nasdaq, reacting to upbeat earnings from top companies. Meanwhile, traders remained cautious amid Covid-19 lockdowns in China, looming interest rate hikes and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Japanese stock market is closed for Showa Day holiday on Friday. Jakarta Stock Exchange is closed on account of Eid al-Fitr. Back home, Fertilizer industry stocks were in focus with report that India’s fertiliser subsidy bill is likely to shoot up by 55 per cent to record Rs 2.5 lakh crore this fiscal as the government will provide additional funds to make up for the spike in cost from higher import price. In scrip specific development, Shriram Transport Finance rose as it posted a 44 per cent increase in net profit the for Q4 to Rs 1,086.13 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57655.59, up by 134.53 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 57544.48 and 57902.83. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.70%, Realty up by 0.55%, Metal up by 0.28%, Auto up by 0.25%, Basic Materials up by 0.25%, while Power down by 0.29%, Utilities down by 0.27%, Consumer Durables down by 0.15%, Oil & Gas down by 0.11%, Bankex down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.67%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.95%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.27%, Tata Steel up by 1.17% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.19%, Wipro down by 0.66%, Power Grid down by 0.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52% and ITC down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to reduce imports of the country, the commerce ministry has made a case for encouraging domestic manufacturing of 102 items like chemicals, electronic products and insulin injection as their share in the country’s total imports are high. According to an analysis of imports by the ministry, the 102 items are in huge demand in the country and are imported because domestic supplies are not adequate.

It said ‘Based on the study results, it is suggested that items showing high growth and/or high share i.e. a total of 102 items with share of 57.66 per cent in total import may be prioritised for immediate interventions for domestic production opportunities’. It has recommended that industry associations, manufacturers and business leaders may consider exploring domestic capacity expansion in these items with a view to meet the domestic demand, which in turn will fuel economic growth and create employment opportunities.

The study was conducted to identify items which are consistently being imported, and have significant share in value of imports. The objective is to enhance their domestic production capacity and reduce import dependence. As many as 88 items such as gold, natural gas, crude palm oil, integrated circuits, parts of telephonic/telegraphic apparatus and personal computer have shown increase in imports in the short, medium and long run. India’s imports have touched $611.89 billion in 2021-22 as against $394.44 billion in 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17267.65, up by 22.60 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17240.20 and 17349.30. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.40%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.30% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.51%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.98%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.96%, Britannia Industries down by 1.04% and Wipro down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Straits Times rose 27.45 points or 0.82% to 3,362.54, Hang Seng surged 421.83 points or 2.08% to 20,698.00, Taiwan Weighted advanced 173.34 points or 1.06% to 16,592.72, KOSPI added 21.11 points or 0.79% to 2,688.60 and Shanghai Composite was up by 11.06 points or 0.37% to 2,986.54.