Sensex, Nifty remain positive in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained positive in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments remained optimistic, after the principal economic advisor with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Rupa Dutta, said that the government is working on to reduce compliance issues with a focus on ease of doing business and has introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) keeping that in mind.

Adding more comfort, a private report stated that online retail spending in India is expected to grow nearly six fold to USD 300 billion by 2030 with expansion in the number of digitally-influenced shoppers and online shoppers. According to the report, the number of digitally-influenced shoppers has grown rapidly in recent years, reaching 280 million from 260 million and online shoppers have grown to 230 million from 210 million in 2021.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after South Korea posted a current account surplus of $3.86 billion in May, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday - following the $0.08 billion shortfall in April. The goods account surplus decreased to $2.74 billion, compared to $6.65 billion in May 2021. The primary income account surplus decreased from $5.03 billion the year previously to $1.45 billion in May 2022.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54143.11, up by 392.14 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 53980.74 and 54249.74. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.86%, PSU up by 1.52%, Capital Goods up by 1.44%, Consumer discretionary up by 1.43% and Industrials up by 1.34%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Co up by 5.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.77%, Indusind Bank up by 2.12%, NTPC up by 1.98% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.12%, Reliance Industries down by 0.67%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.65%, Axis Bank down by 0.48% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on high-quality glass, used in construction, refrigeration, solar energy and other industries, from Bangladesh and Thailand to guard domestic players from cheap imports. Arch Pharmalabs has filed an application before the DGTR for initiation of an anti-dumping investigation and imposition of the duty on the imports.

Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended the duty on imports of 'clear float glass' from these two countries after concluding in its probe that the product has been exported at dumped prices into India, which impacted the domestic industry. The authority recommends imposition of the anti-dumping duties on the imports of the subject goods. Clear float glass is used in construction, refrigeration, mirror and solar energy industries. It is a superior quality.

DGTR had conducted the probe following a complaint from Asahi India Class, Gold Plus Glass Industry, Sisecam Flat Glass lndia and Saint-Gobain India about the dumping of the glass. In a separate notification, DGTR has also suggested imposition of the duty on ursodeoxycholic acid imported from China and Korea. It is used as medical therapy in gallstone disease and for biliary sludge.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16115.35, up by 125.55 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 16063.75 and 16139.50. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 5.76%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.84%, UPL up by 2.64%, BPCL up by 2.40% and Indusind Bank up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.01%, Reliance Industries down by 0.70%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.62%, Axis Bank down by 0.39% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite soared 7.99 points or 0.12% to 6,654.40, Straits Times advanced 8.14 points or 0.26% to 3,111.80, Shanghai Composite gained 17.07 points or 0.51% to 3,372.42, KOSPI rose 49.54 points or 2.16% to 2,341.55, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 339.28 points or 2.43% to 14,324.79 and Nikkei 225 surged 383.73 points or 1.47% to 26,491.38. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 87.75 points or 0.41% to 21,498.91.