Key indices keep head above water in noon deals

Local equity benchmarks managed to keep their head above water in noon deals with both Sensex and Nifty were trading above 59300 and 17650 marks, respectively. Traders took some solace as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said despite the latest headwinds arising from the Jackson Hole summit leading to extreme volatility, the country’s banking system and financial markets are strong enough to withstand such pressures. Some support also came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted India's stable economic conditions during COVID-19 pandemic and said that the country has emerged as the trusted partner of the world. However, upside remain capped as Finance Ministry in its report on ‘India's external debt’ has said that India's external debt rose by 8.2 per cent year-on-year to USD 620.7 billion as of March 2022. It stated while 53.2 per cent of it was denominated in the US dollar, Indian rupee-denominated debt, estimated at 31.2 per cent, was the second largest.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after China promised to speed up the rollout of policy changes to boost anemic economic growth and Australia’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate. Back home, in scrip specific development, DreamFolks Services makes stellar debut, stock shoot up 55% over issue price.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59327.96, up by 81.98 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 58974.26 and 59566.67. There were 10 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.39%, Utilities up by 1.30%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, Energy up by 0.91% and PSU was up by 0.50%, while IT down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.13% and TECK was down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.36%, NTPC up by 2.16%, Reliance Industries up by 0.80%, Power Grid up by 0.69% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.26%, Nestle down by 0.91%, Asian Paints down by 0.85%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82% and Bajaj Finance was down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Highlighting India's stable economic conditions during COVID-19 pandemic, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the country has emerged as the trusted partner of the world. He said, today with the kind of structural reforms that happened in India, the island of stability that India offers, amidst the global disturbances, India is holding strong, growth is continuing to be amongst the highest in the large economies, inflation relatively being less than other parts of the world, particularly the developed countries.

Goyal stated that with a stable environment, India has become probably one of the world's most attractive investment destinations. The trusted partner in the works and it is evident in the way world leaders and developed countries are making every effort to expand their engagement with India -- looking for bilateral agreements, to expand trade with India investments into India. Inflation in India is at about 6-7 per cent. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is up by about 6.7 per cent by the last account. This is lower than what it used to be 10 years ago. Post-2014, India has focused on inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the central government entered into a formal agreement mandating the RBI to maintain inflation as a primary focus of its activities. Since 2014, India has seen inflation at an average of about four and a half per cent, probably the lowest since independence.

He further said ‘we have had a small bump in the last few months and we are all very conscious of the background to it. Post-COVID, coupled with the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, there is an increase in inflation across the world. Even in the developed countries, the inflation is now at 10 or 11 per cent as compared to India, which ranges between 6 -7 per cent’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17682.60, up by 16.80 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17587.65 and 17764.65. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.58%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 2.18%, NTPC up by 1.79%, Cipla up by 1.40% and Reliance Industries up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.22%, Britannia Inds down by 1.16%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.83%, Tata Consumer Produc down by 0.82% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 surged 6.90 points or 0.02% to 27,626.51, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 16.10 points or 0.11% to 14,677.20, KOSPI rose 6.34 points or 0.26% to 2,410.02, Shanghai Composite gained 37.59 points or 1.17% to 3,237.50, Straits Times advanced 3.94 points or 0.12% to 3,219.42 and Jakarta Composite was up by 8.24 points or 0.11% to 7,240.12.

On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 49.91 points or 0.26% to 19,175.79.