Sensex, Nifty cut most of gains in late morning session

Cutting most of their gains, Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat in late morning session, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious, after a report that India's trade with Sri Lanka has nearly stopped following the unrest in the island nation, leaving exporters worried about their payments. The street overlooked a private report stating that private equity investments in proptech firms rose 35 per cent to USD 741 million last year as investors sought to tap huge opportunities amid rising use of technology in the realty sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after China's exports growth accelerated in June as companies revived operations following the easing of restrictions related to the pandemic, while imports logged a slower growth. With the reopening of ports, the annual growth in exports accelerated to 17.9 percent from 16.9 percent in May, the General Administration of Customs said. The rate was forecast to ease to 12.0 percent.

Back home, auto industry stocks were in focus, as the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest data has said that passenger vehicle wholesales in India rose by 19 per cent year-on-year in June on the back of improvement in semiconductor supplies. Passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches to dealers stood at 2,75,788 units last month against 2,31,633 units in June 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 53523.68, up by 9.53 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 53498.33 and 53861.28. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.28%, while Small cap index was down by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.63%, Capital Goods up by 0.22%, Auto up by 0.12% and Consumer Durables up by 0.01%, while Power down by 1.27%, Utilities down by 1.16%, Metal down by 0.79%, IT down by 0.73% and Basic Materials down by 0.56% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.63%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.60%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.85%, HDFC up by 0.75% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.03%, TCS down by 1.01%, SBI down by 0.86%, HCL Tech. down by 0.71% and Tata Steel down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest data has said that passenger vehicle wholesales in India rose by 19 per cent year-on-year in June on the back of improvement in semiconductor supplies. Passenger vehicle (PV) dispatches to dealers stood at 2,75,788 units last month against 2,31,633 units in June 2021. Similarly, total two-wheeler wholesales increased to 13,08,764 units last month compared to 10,60,565 units in the year-ago period. Total three-wheeler sales grew to 26,701 units last month against 9,404 units in June 2021.

Sales across segments rose to 16,11,300 units in June from 13,01,602 units in the same month last year. In the first quarter, PV dispatches increased to 9,10,431 units, up 41 per cent from 6,46,272 units in the April-June period of the previous fiscal. Total commercial vehicle wholesales also rose to 2,24,512 units against 1,05,800 units a year ago. Two-wheeler dispatches jumped to 37,24,533 units as against 24,13,608 units in the year-ago period.

Similarly, three-wheeler dispatches grew to 76,293 units in the first quarter from 24,522 units in the year-ago period. Total sales across categories rose to 49,35,870 units in the April-June quarter compared to 31,90,202 units in the first quarter of last fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15974.35, up by 7.70 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 15955.55 and 16070.85. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 1.70%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.60%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 1.23%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.90% and HDFC up by 0.87%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.97%, UPL down by 1.27%, TCS down by 1.05%, Axis Bank down by 1.04% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 216.64 points or 0.82% to 26,695.41, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 76.14 points or 0.53% to 14,400.82, Hang Seng increased 50.33 points or 0.24% to 20,848.28, Jakarta Composite soared 28.80 points or 0.43% to 6,669.79, Shanghai Composite gained 10.21 points or 0.31% to 3,294.50 and KOSPI rose 6.92 points or 0.3% to 2,335.53. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 25.80 points or 0.82% to 3,102.89.