Benchmarks remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in green in morning deals, led by gains in Capital Goods, Industrials, IT and Banking stocks amid positive global cues. Traders took some support with Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth’s statement that the measures taken by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will increase inflows of overseas funds and help in strengthening the rupee against the US dollar. RBI on Wednesday raised the overseas borrowing limits for companies and liberalised norms for foreign investments in government bonds as it announced a slew of measures to boost foreign exchange inflows.  The focus shifted to the onset of the corporate earnings season, with TCS set to report its financial results for the April-June period later in the day. Sectorally, stocks related to information technology (IT) sector remained in focus as ratings agency Crisil in its latest report stated that the information technology (IT) services sector will see a sharp fall in revenue growth to 12-13 per cent in FY23 from 19 per cent in FY22. However, the current depreciation in the rupee, strong demand for new age technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and Internet of Things will help the over $220-billion sector maintain a double digit growth. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green amid renewed China stimulus expectations and hopes for a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54448.39, up by 269.93 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 54350.41 and 54627.14. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.81%, Industrials up by 0.93%, IT up by 0.71%, Bankex up by 0.65% and Power up by 0.59%, while Realty down by 0.73%, Metal down by 0.43%, Telecom down by 0.16% and Oil & Gas down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.49%, Axis Bank up by 2.23%, NTPC up by 2.14%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47% and ICICI Bank up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.21%, Asian Paints down by 1.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.86%, Indusind Bank down by 0.59% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has asked state governments to find out effective ways to address the issues related to debt and cash management.

He emphasised on the need for the states to adopt prudent borrowing strategy and efficient cash management practices, keeping in view the evolving macroeconomic scenarios.

Further, he stressed on the need for the states to focus on improving quality of expenditures, better handling and monitoring of contingent liabilities and improving the governance in the cooperative banks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16200.85, up by 67.95 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 16177.40 and 16275.50. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.41%, Axis Bank up by 2.32%, NTPC up by 2.03%, Coal India up by 1.85% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.58%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.41%, Tata Steel down by 1.22%, JSW Steel down by 1.15%, ONGC down by 1.13% and Asian Paints down by 1.03% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Hang Seng increased 15.04 points or 0.07% to 21,658.62, Jakarta Composite soared 54.57 points or 0.82% to 6,707.16, Straits Times advanced 4.59 points or 0.15% to 3,133.99, Shanghai Composite gained 5.88 points or 0.17% to 3,370.28, KOSPI rose 26.97 points or 1.16% to 2,361.24, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 124.95 points or 0.87% to 14,461.22 and Nikkei 225 surged 199.86 points or 0.75% to 26,690.39.