Benchmarks continue to trade higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning deals, on the back of strength in Utilities, Power and IT shares. Sentiments remained positive as State Bank of India's (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Khara said that things might get better on the inflation front towards the end of September. He said the supply side constraints getting addressed and crude oil prices trending low will help ease the situation. Traders also took a note of a private report that the UK India Business Council sees opportunities for trade, investment, and collaboration with India across financial technology (fintech), food and beverage, electric vehicle (EV), and other sectors. Meanwhile, another private report stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council may make rate changes in some services or products and withdraw some exemptions in a bid to correct instances of inverted duty.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as falling oil prices and robust earnings from U.S. retailers helped offset concerns of darkening economic outlook globally. A cautious undertone prevailed as investors awaited the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes of the July meeting later today for guidance on future rate hikes.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60131.51, up by 289.30 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 59857.80 and 60150.56. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.07%, Power up by 1.05%, IT up by 0.90%, Telecom up by 0.87% and Consumer Durables up by 0.85%, while Metal down by 0.24% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.59%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.55%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.29%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.80% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.83%, Tata Steel down by 0.22%, HDFC down by 0.18%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.16% and SBI down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Icra in its latest report has said that gold jewellery demand in India is likely to decline in the second and third quarters of this fiscal due to hike in import duty, high volatility in prices and inflationary pressure. It mentioned while demand is likely to contract by 8 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of FY23, the decline is expected to be higher at 15 per cent in the third quarter due to the exceptionally high base in the same period of FY22.

According to the report, the exceptional third quarter performance in FY22 was due to the post-Covid reopening of the economy and the substantially high demand in the wedding and festive seasons. Nonetheless, overall industry is expected to grow by a moderate 10 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in FY23 on the back of strong performance in the first quarter of FY23 and steady demand in wedding and festive season in the current fiscal.

Further, it stated the organised jewellery retail industry's revenue is likely to grow at a higher pace of 14 per cent y-o-y in FY23, driven by continued store expansions. Besides, it added the jewellery retail sector is estimated to have grown by a robust 88 per cent y-on-y in the first quarter of FY23, driven by strong demand during the Akshaya Tritiya season and continued momentum in wedding purchases.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17909.95, up by 84.70 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 17833.35 and 17915.40. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.60%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.48%, NTPC up by 2.46%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.44% and Eicher Motors up by 2.38%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.84%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.57%, ONGC down by 0.32%, Tata Steel down by 0.27% and JSW Steel down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 302.67 points or 1.05% to 29,171.58, Hang Seng increased 167.27 points or 0.84% to 19,997.79, Straits Times advanced 11.39 points or 0.35% to 3,265.18 and Shanghai Composite gained 9.14 points or 0.28% to 3,287.02.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.77 points or 0.01% to 15,418.80 and KOSPI fell 18.74 points or 0.74% to 2,514.78.