Indian markets trade firm in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Wednesday tracking some gains in Asian peers. Markets are trading higher with notable gains of around half a percent each in early deals on account of buying in Realty, Telecom and FMCG stocks. Encouraging macro-economic data also added to the gains on bourses. Data by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that India’s industrial production rose 19.6 per cent in May 2022. As per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the manufacturing sector’s output grew 20.6 per cent in May 2022. Also, retail inflation dropped marginally to 7.01 per cent in June mainly due to slight easing in prices of vegetables and pulses. But, gains remained capped as inflation figure still remained above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level for the sixth month in a row. Traders took note of report that Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asserted that the pointed attack on inflation will need to continue, and that she has been monitoring price pressure item by item, as elevated inflation ultimately crimps growth.

Most of the Asian markets are trading higher, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, boosted by technology and financial stocks, as investors waited for U.S. inflation data some worry might lead to more interest rate hikes. Meanwhile, traders are concerned about the rising domestic cases of COVID-19 amid the seventh wave of infections. Back home, power stocks were under pressure as India's power minister said the current global energy crisis is likely to go on for some time due to the cartelisation of the fossil fuel industry, not just because of the Ukraine conflict. In stock specific developments, CARE Ratings soared as it will consider a plan for share buyback on July 20. HCL Tech hits 52-week low after Q1 misses street estimates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54122.91, up by 236.30 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 53985.68 and 54211.22. 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 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.08%, Telecom up by 0.92%, FMCG up by 0.88%, Basic Materials up by 0.84%, Capital Goods up by 0.83%, while Utilities down by 0.29%, Power down by 0.27%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16%, Energy down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.79%, Asian Paints up by 1.69%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.46%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.36% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.35%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.68%, Reliance Industries down by 0.50%, Indusind Bank down by 0.43%, HDFC Bank down by 0.27% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with strong performance by the manufacturing, power, and mining sectors, India’s industrial production rose 19.6 per cent in May 2022. Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth was recorded at 27.6 percent in May last year, mainly due to the low-base effect. The IIP had grown 7.1 percent in April this year after remaining subdued for the preceding seven months. The data released by data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that for the month of May 2022, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011?12 stood at 137.7.

As per the data, the manufacturing sector expanded by 20.6 percent compared to a growth of 32.1 percent recorded in the year-ago period. Power sector showed a growth of 23.5 percent as against 7.5 percent a year ago, while the mining sector witnessed an expansion of 10.9 percent in May 2022 compared to a growth of 23.6 percent last year. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of May 2022 stood at 120.1, 134.5 and 199.9 respectively.

Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investment, showed a growth of 54 percent in May 2022 against a jump of 74.9 percent in the year-ago month. The consumer durables segment grew by 58.5 percent against a growth of 80.4 percent a year ago. The primary goods segment, which accounts for nearly 34 percent of the index, expanded by 17.7 percent in May compared to 15.8 percent growth a year ago. The consumer non-durable segment grew by 0.9 percent in May compared to a growth of 0.2 percent in the same month a year ago.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16127.80, up by 69.50 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 16102.20 and 16139.60. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.75%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.72%, Grasim Industries up by 1.66%, Asian Paints up by 1.58% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.40%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 0.60%, HCL Technologies down by 0.60%, Reliance Industries down by 0.51%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.38% and Indusind Bank down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 93.34 points or 0.35% to 26,430.00, Hang Seng added 145.45 points or 0.70% to 20,990.19, Taiwan Weighted jumped 414.43 points or 2.97% to 14,365.05, KOSPI rose 13.36 points or 0.58% to 2,331.12 and Shanghai Composite was up by 11.82 points or 0.36% to 3,293.29. On the other hand, Straits Times fell 21.72 points or 0.69% to 3,124.05 and Jakarta Composite was down by 37.41 points or 0.56% to 6,680.88.