Benchmark indices trade tad higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Thursday tracking gains in global markets. But, domestic indices trimmed some of their gains and are trading tad higher in early deals. Volatility came in amid expiry of F&O series later in the day. Initially, markets took some support with a private report that India’s economy is expected to have grown at 9.2 per cent in the fiscal ended March 2022, after having contracted by 7.3 per cent in the previous financial year, aided by resilience in the rural economy, uptick in bank credit and rising GST collections. Though, traders turned cautious with continued selling by foreign investors. Provisional data available on the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 1,803.06 crore on May 25. Adding more pessimism, a private report stated that the current price situation leaves hardly any scope for rationalisation of GST rates on goods and services.

Most of the Asian markets are trading higher following the broadly positive cues overnight from the global markets, as traders digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting and the following comments. Markets were lifted by a rebound in technology stocks after the recent plunge. Indonesia is closed Ascension Day holiday. Back home, power stocks were in focus with a private report that the Ministry of Power notified that it is working on a scheme to liquidate the past dues of power distribution companies (discoms) to provide relief to the entire value chain in the power sector which has been reeling under the pressure of non-payment. In stock specific movement, IndiGo surged despite posting a loss of Rs 1,681 crore in the quarter ended March 31 (Q4).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53868.83, up by 119.57 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 53823.36 and 54102.36. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.22%, while Small cap index was down by 0.62%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.64%, IT up by 0.23%, TECK up by 0.21%, while Power down by 2.39%, Utilities down by 2.24%, Oil & Gas down by 1.20%, Realty down by 1.03%, Telecom down by 0.98% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.55%, Nestle up by 1.49%, HDFC Bank up by 1.48%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.73% and Axis Bank up by 0.66%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.57%, Asian Paints down by 1.82%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.86%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.83% and NTPC down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, strongly defending the government's decision to control wheat and sugar exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the steps were necessary keeping in mind the domestic requirements and a need to keep hoarders and speculators in check who could have exploited vulnerable poor nations by selling them the commodities at higher prices. Goyal said a lot of misconceptions are doing the rounds on this issue.

Goyal said India traditionally has never been an exporter of grains and was rather importing initially, till the Green Revolution happened. He said ‘Still, for the last many years we were only producing for our own consumption, and it was only two years ago that we began to export after a surplus production, that too of a nominal quantity. Also, most of our wheat went to poor countries. Unfortunately, there was a climate problem last year due to which our wheat production fell sharply and we had to draw from our food security reserves'. He said ‘at the same time, we saw that the speed at which wheat was going out, we had to intervene to regulate the wheat export and we also thought we must check middlemen who could procure from India and then sell at high prices to poor countries. We are still ready to help vulnerable countries if the WTO regulations allow that’. He highlighted that ‘we have to take care of our food security requirements as it was this reserve that helped us ensure food availability for our poor people during the COVID-19 pandemic’.

He further said ‘in sugar too India's total export was 10 million tonnes and we have said that we will continue to look at that level but we would ensure that speculators and hoarders are put under check’. He said ‘different countries at different points of time have to take extraordinary measures to safeguard the interest of their people’. About India deciding to import oil from Russia, he said the government has made it very clear that the quantity of oil imported from Russia was only a fraction of what was being bought by Europe and that the decision did not violate any of the sanction conditions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16049.40, up by 23.60 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 16026.20 and 16129.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 1.63%, HDFC up by 1.48%, Nestle up by 1.45%, Infosys up by 0.82% and Axis Bank up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.38%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.81%, BPCL down by 2.77%, ITC down by 2.75% and UPL down by 2.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 rose 44.13 points or 0.17% to 26,721.93, Straits Times advanced 24.00 points or 0.75% to 3,203.58, KOSPI added 6.55 points or 0.25% to 2,623.77 and Shanghai Composite was up by 20.35 points or 0.65% to 3,127.81. On the other hand, Hang Seng fell 55.88 points or 0.28% to 20,115.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 53.54 points or 0.33% to 16,050.49.