Local equities continue firm trade; Sensex above 52,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued firm trade in the morning session on account of buying in front line counters. Traders remained energized with RBI data showing that the country's foreign exchange reserves in nominal terms, including valuation effects, rose by $30.3 billion in 2021-22 fiscal against $99.2 billion expansion in FY2020-21. Investors were also encouraged as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government expects the Indian economy to grow by 7.5 per cent this year. Modi also said the value of the Indian digital economy will reach $1 trillion by 2025. However, there were some cautiousness too as the Reserve Bank said India witnessed a current account deficit of 1.2 per cent of GDP in 2021-22 against a surplus of 0.9 per cent in FY2020-21 due to a wider trade deficit.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, as traders are slightly relived after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is not trying to engineer a recession to stop inflation but is fully committed to bringing prices under control, even at the risk of an economic slowdown. Back home, stocks related to aviation sector remained in focus as Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest data has stated that domestic air passenger traffic saw a strong recovery in demand as Indian carriers flew 1.20 crore passengers on the local routes in May 2022, logging nearly five-fold year-on-year volume growth. Domestic air passenger traffic in May 2021 stood at a meager 21-lakh.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52415.31, up by 592.78 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 51809.18 and 52440.25. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.42%, while Small cap index was up by 1.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.45%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.73%, Telecom up by 1.71%, Bankex up by 1.71% and Realty up by 1.66%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.48%, ICICI Bank up by 2.72%, Asian Paints up by 2.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.43% and Axis Bank up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.74% and Titan Company down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest data has stated that domestic air passenger traffic saw a strong recovery in demand as Indian carriers flew 1.20 crore passengers on the local routes in May 2022, logging nearly five-fold year-on-year volume growth, Domestic air passenger traffic in May 2021 stood at a meager 21-lakh.

It stated of the total 1.20 crore passengers flown by the domestic carriers in May 2022, market leader IndiGo transported around 70 lakh with 57.9 per cent market share, followed by Mumbai-based carrier Go First with 12.76 lakh passengers, accounting for 10.8 per cent of the total domestic traffic. The two full-service carriers -- Air India and Vistara, which are part of the Tata Group along with no-frills AirAsia India -- carried 8.23 lakh and 9.83 lakh passengers, respectively, in the previous month. AirAsia India flew 6.86 lakh passengers across the domestic routes in May 2022.

Besides, it mentioned during the reporting month, budget carrier SpiceJet delivered the highest load factor at 89.1 per cent followed by Go First at 86.5 per cent. In terms of On-Time Performance (OTP), AirAsia India, had its maximum number of flights operating on time with an OTP of 90.8 per cent across four key airports. Vistara had the second best OTP at 87.5 per cent in the month under review.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15586.65, up by 173.35 points or 1.12% after trading in a range of 15411.55 and 15602.85. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 4.14%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.43%, Tata Motors up by 3.03%, Eicher Motors up by 2.98% and Hindalco up by 2.75%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.02%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.69% and Titan Company down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 200.75 points or 0.96% to 21,209.09, Straits Times advanced 19.14 points or 0.62% to 3,112.45, Shanghai Composite gained 18.79 points or 0.58% to 3,285.99 and Nikkei 225 surged 0.61 points or 0% to 26,150.16.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 13.15 points or 0.56% to 2,329.66, Jakarta Composite lost 36.42 points or 0.52% to 6,947.89 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 76.40 points or 0.5% to 15,271.35.