Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in positive terrain

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in positive terrain in morning session with Sensex and Nifty trading above 52,590 and 15,650 levels respectively. Buying in frontline stocks such as Indusind Bank, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were aiding sentiment, while selling in Asian Paints, NTPC and Infosys kept the gains in the markets in check. Investors took encouragement with a private report 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. Traders overlooked private report stated that India's current account deficit (CAD) is expected to widen and be in the range of 2.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year FY23. The high merchandise trade deficit coupled with the fund outflow from financial markets has weakened India's external account or balance of payment position. Meanwhile, Leaders of BRICS nations, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, with a view to making it more representative, effective and efficient.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green 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. Back home, stocks related to power sector remained in watch as Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that the government's scheme to liquidate overdue can help release Rs 9,000 crore dues owed by the distribution companies (discoms) to renewable energy (RE) generation companies (Gencos) over the next two fiscal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52594.51, up by 328.79 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 52550.68 and 52909.87. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.05%, while Small cap index was up by 1.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.79%, Auto up by 1.28%, Consumer Durables up by 1.13%, Bankex up by 1.11% and Metal up by 1.09%, while IT down by 0.19% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.61%, Tata Steel up by 1.49% and ICICI Bank up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.08%, NTPC down by 0.81%, Infosys down by 0.72%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.32% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, 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. Further, the minister emphasized the expansion of infra spending from Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 7.5 lakh crore and Gati Shakti will benefit the logistics sector most with investment across roads, highways, ports, airports, multi-modal terminals, etc.

He said that GatiShakti will help in efficient planning and implementation, thereby ensuring that last-mile connectivity-related issues are not there. He also stated that the government is actively thinking of promoting the manufacturing of containers and ship-building.

Besides, he appreciated the role played by the logistics sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the resilient and efficient supply chains developed by the operators in the logistics sector helped India overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and supported the growth in trade seen over the last two years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15668.35, up by 111.70 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 15645.95 and 15749.25. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.88%, Indusind Bank up by 2.67%, Britannia Industries up by 2.21%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.03% and Eicher Motors up by 2.02%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.22%, Asian Paints down by 0.96%, NTPC down by 0.77%, Infosys down by 0.75% and BPCL down by 0.71% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Hang Seng increased 309.16 points or 1.45% to 21,583.03, Straits Times advanced 8.49 points or 0.27% to 3,101.29, Shanghai Composite gained 14.52 points or 0.44% to 3,334.67, Nikkei 225 surged 305.27 points or 1.17% to 26,476.52, KOSPI rose 47.50 points or 2.05% to 2,361.82, Jakarta Composite soared 43.11 points or 0.62% to 7,041.38 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 85.81 points or 0.57% to 15,262.25.