Domestic indices trade higher in early deals; Nifty above 17,200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s gains with positive opening of new month. Domestic indices are trading higher with notable gains in early deals on Monday amid strong inflows from foreign investors. After nine consecutive months of relentless selling, foreign investors have turned net buyers and invested nearly Rs 5,000 crore in Indian equities in July on softening dollar index and good corporate earnings. Traders also took some encouragement as retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 6.16 per cent in June from 6.97 per cent in May this year due to lower prices of certain food items and petrol. Adding more optimism, the government data showed that the output of eight core infrastructure sectors expanded by 12.7 per cent in June against 9.4 per cent in the year-ago period. However, upside remained capped as RBI data showed that India’s foreign exchange reserves declined $1.152 billion to $571.56 billion for the week ended July 22. The reserves has been declining amid continuing volatility in the rupee which has also significantly depreciated against the US dollar. Market participants are eyeing the manufacturing PMI data to be out later in the day for further cues.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, as traders react to the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies. Besides, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in July, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.1. Back home, auto stocks were in limelight reacting to their monthly sales numbers. Aviation industry stocks were in focus after oil marketing companies reduced aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices by a major 12 per cent to Rs 1.21 lakh per kilolitre in Delhi. In stock specific developments, JK Paper soared on reporting two-fold rise Q1 PAT. UPL and ITC surged ahead of their June quarter results.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57755.49, up by 185.24 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 57540.36 and 57844.27. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.07%, Telecom up by 1.44%, Consumer Disc up by 1.25%, Industrials up by 1.17%, Basic Materials up by 0.73%, while Realty down by 0.57% and IT down by 0.19% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 6.08%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.07%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.71%, Reliance Industries up by 1.44% and Power Grid up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.35%, NTPC down by 1.24%, Indusind Bank down by 0.87%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.69% and Infosys down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in its latest data has showed that the central government's fiscal deficit touched 21.2 per cent of the annual target in the June quarter as against 18.2 per cent in the year-ago period. The fiscal deficit is the difference between total expenditure and revenue of the government. It indicates the total borrowing that are needed by the government.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit was at Rs 3.51 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2022-23. The country's fiscal deficit is projected at 6.4 per cent of the GDP for this fiscal ending March 2023 as against 6.71 per cent for the previous year.

As per the monthly account of the Union government up to June 2022 released by CGA, the receipts stood at Rs 5.96 trillion or 26.1 per cent of the corresponding Budget Estimates (BE) 2022-23 of total receipts. In the year-ago period, the receipts stood at 27.7 per cent of BE 2021-22.

In the latest June quarter, the total expenditure incurred by the central government was at Rs 9.47 trillion or 24 per cent of corresponding BE 2022-23. It was at 23.6 per cent of BE 201-22 in the corresponding period. For 2022-23, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be Rs 16.6 trillion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17230.05, up by 71.80 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 17154.80 and 17244.80. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 6.08%, Tata Motors up by 3.61%, Cipla up by 3.21%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.98% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.76%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.33%, NTPC down by 1.18%, Indusind Bank down by 0.89%, Britannia Industries down by 0.86% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 146.86 points or 0.53% to 27,948.50, Straits Times rose 27.49 points or 0.86% to 3,239.05, Jakarta Composite added 27.89 points or 0.40% to 6,979.01 and Shanghai Composite was up by 5.22 points or 0.16% to 3,258.46. On the other hand, Hang Seng fell 68.79 points or 0.34% to 20,087.72, Taiwan Weighted lost 65.61 points or 0.44% to 14,934.46 and KOSPI was down by 2.55 points or 0.10% to 2,448.95.