Indian markets trade in fine-fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks tracked the global markets and made gap-up opening on Friday. Domestic indices are trading firm in early deals with notable gains of around 0.80% each. Sentiments got a boost with a private report stating that the Indian economy can grow by 7-7.8 per cent this fiscal on the back of better agriculture production and a revitalised rural economy amid global headwinds mainly due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Adding more optimism, another report stated that India’s engineering exports stood at $9.79 billion in May 2022, recording a growth of 13.5 percent over the $8.62 billion reported in the same month a year ago, while the country saw its cumulative engineering exports growing by 16.84 percent at $19.39billion ($16.6 billion) during April-May 2022 period. Traders took note of a new Nasscom report showing that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and data utilisation strategy can add $500 billion to India's GDP by 2025.

Global cues remained supportive with all the Asian markets trading higher following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders indulged in bargain hunting in the oversold bourses, particularly among the technology shares, even as the possibility of a global recession remains. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said overall consumer prices in Japan were up 2.5 percent on year in May. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month. Back home, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has urged the Commerce industry to work with the government to bring down the logistics cost from 12-14 percent to 7-8 percent as prevailing in the developed countries. In stock specific movement, ONGC gained after its overseas investment arm made an oil discovery in an onshore block in Colombia.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52661.63, up by 395.91 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 52586.97 and 52909.87. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.89%, while Small cap index was up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.77%, Auto up by 1.40%, Bankex up by 1.24%, FMCG up by 1.20%, Power up by 1.16%, while IT down by 0.28% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.50%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.04%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.01%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.82% and ICICI Bank up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.09%, Asian Paints down by 0.78%, Infosys down by 0.53%, TCS down by 0.16% and HCL Technologies down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in its latest data has showed that investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) dropped to Rs 86,706 crore until end-May from the preceding month. P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be a part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. However, they need to go through a due diligence process.

According to the data, the value of P-note investments in Indian markets - equity, debt, and hybrid securities - stood at Rs 86,706 crore end-May, compared with Rs 90,580 crore end-April. In March, the investment was at Rs 87,979 crore. It was Rs 89,143 crore in February and Rs 87,989 crore in January.

Of the total Rs 86,706 crore invested through the route until May, Rs 77,402 crore was invested in equities, Rs 9,209 crore in debt, and Rs 101 crore in hybrid securities. In comparison, Rs 81,571 crore was invested in equities and Rs 8,889 crore in debt during April.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15687.55, up by 130.90 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 15650.30 and 15749.25. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.25%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.90%, Eicher Motors up by 2.59%, Britannia Industries up by 2.30% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.79%, Infosys down by 0.35%, BPCL down by 0.26%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.21% and TCS down by 0.10% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 jumped 267.28 points or 1.02% to 26,438.53, Straits Times rose 9.02 points or 0.29% to 3,101.82, Hang Seng surged 309.27 points or 1.45% to 21,583.14, Taiwan Weighted gained 113.36 points or 0.75% to 15,289.80, KOSPI advanced 46.33 points or 2.00% to 2,360.65, Jakarta Composite added 44.93 points or 0.64% to 7,043.20 and Shanghai Composite was up by 14.52 points or 0.44% to 3,334.67.