Benchmarks trade marginally in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally in green in morning deals amid mixed global cues. Traders took some support as State Bank of India in a report said India’s inflation trajectory going forward is expected to be benign with headline retail inflation potentially printing at less than 5 per cent in March 2023. It added that CPI (consumer price index) numbers for March 23 could be even lower than 5 per cent, if July CPI numbers are closer to 6.5-6.6 per cent, a likely possibility. Traders took note of commerce and industry ministry’s statement that India and the UK aim to conclude the free trade agreement by the end of October this year. However, gains remain capped as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the industrial growth data for June and retail inflation figures for July to be out later in the day.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as investors remained filled with uncertainty over how aggressively the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates to tackle inflation despite softer numbers earlier this week. Back home, stocks related to healthcare sector remained in watch as rating agency ICRA’s report stated that strong demand for non-Covid treatments, increase in international patient hospitalizations and continued market share gains for organized players are expected to support occupancy levels going forward, despite supply additions.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59398.92, up by 66.32 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 59113.01 and 59413.15. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.90%, Energy up by 1.74%, Metal up by 1.72%, PSU up by 1.34% and Utilities up by 1.28%, while Healthcare down by 0.73%, TECK down by 0.45%, IT down by 0.40%, Bankex down by 0.04% and Auto down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.21%, Tata Steel up by 2.15%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.77%, Reliance Industries up by 1.38% and SBI up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.08%, Infosys down by 0.89%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.78%, Sun Pharma down by 0.76% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has launched automated online data transfer for capturing critical data related to domestic value addition in the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the auto sector. The new system will capture data from PLI applicant's ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system to PLI auto portal. It stated that all approved applicants of the PLI Scheme have their own ERP system. ERP is a type of software that organisations use to manage business activities.

The IT-enabled system has been devised to enable smooth transfer of data from the applicant's existing ERP system to PLI Auto portal of MHI in a safe environment. The Application Programming Interface (API) will get embedded with ERP system of the applicant and will enable automaticity and paperless processing in this scheme.  In normal circumstances, the applicants would have been required to file voluminous claims. This facility eliminates that voluminous paperwork by bringing in automation.

Thus, this IT-enabled system will reduce the compliance burden on the part of the applicants on the one hand and it will enable faster processing of claim on the other hand. It mentioned this system has been devised after exhaustive stakeholder consultations with leading OEMs and Auto component manufacturing companies.  Besides, Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said that these processes are important steps in enabling transparency, ease of doing business, faceless and self-certification-based assessment and paperless delivery.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17682.10, up by 23.10 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 17597.85 and 17687.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.50%, NTPC up by 2.31%, Tata Steel up by 2.20%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.66% and Reliance Industries up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 3.04%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.32%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.03%, Infosys down by 0.90% and Sun Pharma down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 672.00 points or 2.42% to 28,491.33, Hang Seng increased 124.18 points or 0.62% to 20,206.61, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 86.31 points or 0.57% to 15,284.16 and KOSPI rose 0.93 points or 0.04% to 2,524.71.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 0.84 points or 0.03% to 3,280.83, Jakarta Composite lost 25.99 points or 0.36% to 7,134.40 and Straits Times trembled 32.73 points or 0.99% to 3,269.23.