Nifty, Sensex maintain up-move; IT, Realty stock surge

Key equity gauges maintained their up-move in morning session aided by heavy buying in index majors HCL Technologies, Infosys and Titan Company amid a firm trend in Asian equities. Sentiments remained up-beat as minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel said India is fast-tracking negotiations for proposed free trade agreements with certain developed countries like the UK as well as with the European Union, and maybe by this year end, the government would be able to give a final shape to few of these pacts. The markets also took support from the annual report data showed the size of the Reserve Bank's balance sheet, which is reflective of activities carried out by it in pursuance of currency issue function as well as monetary policy and reserve management, has increased by 8.46 per cent during 2021-22. It said the increase on the asset side was due to rise in foreign investments, domestic investments, gold, and loans and advances by 4.28 per cent, 11.67 per cent, 30.07 per cent and 54.53 per cent, respectively. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, as Beijing and Shanghai eased COVID restrictions and softer U.S. inflation data helped raise expectations that the Federal Reserve will be able to ease the pace of tightening later this year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55789.95, up by 905.29 points or 1.65% after trading in a range of 55466.30 and 55849.41. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.87%, while Small cap index was up by 1.95%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.50%, Realty up by 3.10%, TECK up by 3.09%, Consumer Durables up by 2.81% and Capital Goods up by 2.46%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 4.39%, Infosys up by 4.05%, Titan Company up by 3.56%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.41% and Larsen & Toubro up by 2.99%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.38%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.57%, ITC down by 0.32% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the Centre is implementing various rail, road and air connectivity projects worth Rs 1,34,200 crore in the northeast. Sitharaman said government has been pumping in huge money in developing a number of infrastructure projects throughout the region.

She mentioned ‘We are carrying out 20 railway projects worth Rs 74,000 crore for 2,011 km, which are spread across the northeast.’ She said the Centre is also developing 4,000 km of roads in the region at a total cost of Rs 58,000 crore. There are 15 ongoing air connectivity projects in the northeast, costing around Rs 2,200 crore.  However, she did not mention the completion period of these projects.

Besides, she stated the number of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Routes have been increased to 10 from the existing eight. These Protocol Routes are reviewed every five years. There was a review in May 2022. She also said work is being carried out to develop the National Waterways on the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Barak rivers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16617.15, up by 264.70 points or 1.62% after trading in a range of 16506.15 and 16633.55. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 4.37%, Infosys up by 4.02%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.70%, Titan Company up by 3.56% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.48%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.01%, Sun Pharma down by 1.40%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.53%, ITC down by 0.39% and ONGC down by 0.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 286.11 points or 1.76% to 16,552.33, Hang Seng increased 387.18 points or 1.87% to 21,084.54, KOSPI rose 31.03 points or 1.18% to 2,669.08, Shanghai Composite gained 9.85 points or 0.31% to 3,140.09, Nikkei 225 surged 614.78 points or 2.3% to 27,396.46 and Straits Times advanced 6.60 points or 0.2% to 3,237.15.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 36.09 points or 0.51% to 6,990.17.