Benchmarks extend gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in morning deals, led by gains in IT, TECK and Banking stocks tracking a rally in the global equity markets. Sentiments remained positive as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report showed that digital payments across the country registered a growth of nearly 29 per cent in a year through March 2022. The RBI's digital payment index (RBI-DPI) stood at 349.3 in March 2022 against 270.59 in March 2021. Traders also took a note of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that India has not imposed any country-specific ban on imports. He said India and China, are both members of the WTO, and any trade restriction imposed must be WTO compliant. He said the government has from time to time reviewed and taken WTO compliant measures to address the concerns raised by various stakeholders to have a holistic global trade strategy.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green buoyed by the risk appetite in the market after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s optimistic comments about economic health of US after announcing already indicated 75 basis point rate hike. Jerome Powell also indicated that the central bank may moderate the magnitude of future rate hikes at some point.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56566.19, up by 749.87 points or 1.34% after trading in a range of 56236.45 and 56576.26. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.69%, TECK up by 1.44%, Bankex up by 1.35%, Realty up by 1.26% and Capital Goods up by 0.99%, while Healthcare down by 0.11% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 9.23%, Bajaj Finserv up by 7.85%, Indusind Bank up by 3.07%, Infosys up by 2.04% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.00%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.33%, Sun Pharma down by 0.23% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that telecom service providers May launch 5G mobile service in the current financial year (FY23). He stated ‘The Department of Telecommunication vide notification dated June 15, 2022 has already initiated the process of Auction of Spectrum in 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz Bands which includes the Spectrum required for launch of 5G Services.’

On the first day of the auction on Tuesday (July 26), the Department received total bids worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore. He asserted the Department of Telecommunications has amended the guidelines for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of telecom and networking products to facilitate design-led manufacturing of 5G products in the country.

Moreover, he mentioned one of the amendments is related to providing 1 per cent higher incentive for products qualifying the design-led criteria. The application window has been opened from June 21, 2022 till August 5, 2022. In addition to existing PLI beneficiaries, total 26 National/ Multinational companies have shown their interest as on July 21, 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16844.35, up by 202.55 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 16746.25 and 16847.80. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 9.22%, Bajaj Finserv up by 7.81%, Indusind Bank up by 2.98%, Infosys up by 2.10% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.33%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.28%, Coal India down by 0.27% and Cipla down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 66.51 points or 0.24% to 27,782.26, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 20.53 points or 0.14% to 14,942.12, Jakarta Composite soared 66.75 points or 0.97% to 6,964.97, Shanghai Composite gained 18.66 points or 0.57% to 3,294.42, Straits Times advanced 5.49 points or 0.17% to 3,210.63 and KOSPI rose 18.50 points or 0.77% to 2,434.03.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 115.95 points or 0.56% to 20,554.09.