Benchmarks extend gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in morning deals tracking gains across other Asian markets. Sentiments remained up-beat as the southwest monsoon entering Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, west Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar on Monday, cumulative rainfall deficiency so far has been reduced to 5% from 25% reported on June 16. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted an intense spell of rainfall along the west coast in the next five days. Some support also came as retirement fund body EPFO has added 17.08 lakh net new subscribers in April 2022, nearly 34 per cent more than 12.76 lakh enrolled in the same month a year ago. Traders overlooked a labour bureau statement that retail inflation for farm and rural labourers increased to 6.67 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively in May, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items.

All the Asian markets are trading in green as the market took stock after a recent steep selloff. Although, investors globally awaited a key testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell due this week, wherein the US central bank is widely expected to stay committed to moving aggressively to tame a four-decade high inflation. Back home, metal industry stocks remained in watch as Industry body ISSDA termed the government's move to impose duty on steel products as knee jerk action which came as a shock to domestic steel industry. Stocks related to aviation sector also remained in focus Director General of IATA said the airlines' losses globally are expected to be down from $52 billion in 2021 to $9.7 billion this year and industry-wide profit should be on the horizon in 2023.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52315.76, up by 717.92 points or 1.39% after trading in a range of 51808.76 and 52357.31. All the 30 stocks advancing on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.74%, while Small cap index was up by 2.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 3.37%, Realty up by 2.82%, Metal up by 2.24%, IT up by 2.21% and Industrials up by 2.15%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 5.18%, SBI up by 2.50%, HCL Technologies up by 2.23%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.20% and TCS up by 2.19%, while there were no loser on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Indian Stainless Steel Development Association’s (ISSDA’s) president -- K K Pahuja has termed the government's move to impose duty on steel products as knee jerk action which came as a shock to domestic steel industry. On May 21, the government announced waiving of customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry. Also, the duty on exports of iron ore was hiked by up to 50 per cent and on a few steel intermediaries to 15 per cent.

Pahuja said the knee jerk action of imposing 15 per cent export duty came as a shock to domestic steel industry, which was charting new capex plans to meet government's ambitious target of doubling steel capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030. He stated the government's objective behind the move was to cool down steel prices. However, the prices anyway had started showing a downward trend.

However, he hailed the government's decision to reduce customs duty on certain imported raw materials. The impact of export duty on stainless steel industry is much harsher and unwarranted. In case of flat rolled products of stainless steel of width 600 mm or more (HS Code 2019), the government had already revoked countervailing duty on imports from China and Indonesia since February 2021, facilitating a free flow of subsidised stainless steel flat products from Chinese companies. The imports from these two countries reached an all-time high of 7,72,000 tonnes in 2021-22, constituting over 25 per cent of the domestic consumption. Indian stainless steel manufactures have been trying to tackle this unfair competition from Chinese companies by raising exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15575.65, up by 225.50 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 15419.85 and 15586.55. All the 50 stocks advancing on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 5.50%, Hindalco up by 3.55%, Tata Motors up by 3.17%, JSW Steel up by 2.84% and Adani Ports &Special up by 2.72%.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 586.14 points or 2.27% to 26,357.36, Jakarta Composite soared 40.35 points or 0.58% to 7,016.73, Straits Times advanced 21.37 points or 0.69% to 3,117.77, KOSPI rose 30.53 points or 1.28% to 2,421.56, Shanghai Composite gained 5.81 points or 0.18% to 3,321.24, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 333.42 points or 2.17% to 15,701.00 and Hang Seng increased 302.12 points or 1.43% to 21,466.03.