Sensex, Nifty marginally higher in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally higher in late morning session, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were upbeat, after Icra Ratings in its report has said that manufacturing sector capital expenditure is on course for a leg-up with overwhelming responses to the government's production-linked incentives schemes, especially for lithium-ion battery, pharma and solar module segments.

Besides, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to expand the mandate of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) by allowing procurement by cooperatives. Presently, the registration of cooperatives as buyers was not covered within the existing mandate of GeM. The move will help over 8.54 lakh registered cooperatives and their 27 crore members as they would get products at competitive rates from the GeM portal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after the manufacturing sector in South Korea continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.8. That's down from 52.1 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55493.78, up by 112.61 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 55135.11 and 55645.88. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.19%, Oil & Gas up by 0.88%, IT up by 0.85%, TECK up by 0.73% and Utilities up by 0.52%, while FMCG down by 0.84%, Auto down by 0.71%, Capital Goods down by 0.52%, Healthcare down by 0.48% and Basic Materials down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.64%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.83%, TCS up by 1.42%, Nestle up by 1.07% and Infosys up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.17%, Power Grid down by 1.55%, HDFC down by 1.51%, ICICI Bank down by 0.98% and HDFC Bank down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) -- the fuel that helps aeroplanes fly -- has been reduced by Rs 1,563.97 per kilolitre, or 1.27 per cent, to Rs 1,21,475.74 per kl (Rs 121 per litre) in the national capital on softening international crude oil rates. Simultaneously, prices of commercial LPG - used by business establishments such as hotels and restaurants - were reduced by Rs 135 per 19-kg cylinder.

This is the first reduction after 10 rounds of price increases this year. Rates were hiked by Rs 6,188.25 per kl, or 5.29 per cent, on May 16, to a record high level of Rs 1,23,039.71 per kl. Commercial LPG rates were reduced to Rs 2,219 per 19-kg cylinder, from Rs 2,354. Prior to the cut, rates of commercial LPG had risen by Rs 355.5 per cylinder this year.  However, prices of cooking gas LPG used in households remained unchanged at Rs 1,003 per 14.2-kg cylinder. Rates had been hiked by Rs 3.50 a cylinder on May 19. Prior to that prices were hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder on March 22 and again by the same quantum on May 7. Since April 2021, domestic LPG prices have risen by Rs 193.5 per cylinder.

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged at Rs 96.72 per litre and Rs 89.62 a litre respectively. An excise duty cut by the government had helped reduce petrol by Rs 8.69 a litre and diesel by Rs 7.05 per litre on May 22 but for that, the base price has remained unchanged since April 6. Prior to that, prices had risen by a record Rs 10 per litre each. Retail price of petrol, diesel and domestic cooking gas was way below the cost and so the softening in benchmark prices is being used to set off those losses.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16539.65, up by 16.90 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 16443.05 and 16586.05. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.68%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.93%, TCS up by 1.47%, Coal India up by 0.99% and Nestle up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 5.16%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.07%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.18%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.10% and JSW Steel down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 334.49 points or 1.57% to 20,960.45, Jakarta Composite lost 6.98 points or 0.1% to 7,141.99, Taiwan Weighted dropped 77.33 points or 0.46% to 16,597.76, Straits Times trembled 12.59 points or 0.39% to 3,231.41, KOSPI fell 27.44 points or 1.02% to 2,658.46 and Nikkei 225 slipped 38.02 points or 0.14% to 27,419.87. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 3.36 points or 0.11% to 3,185.52.