Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, amid positive moves across global markets. Gains in IT, TECK and Realty shares pushed the headline indices higher. Sentiments remained optimistic as Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said assessing the impact of the foundational changes and structural transformation that has happened in the last few years, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimated that India in 2047 will be a $35-45 trillion economy, taking the country into the league of developed nations. Some support also came as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India has made powerful efforts to grow its economy and emerge as a higher-income country, and expressed hope that it will be the fastest growing major economy in the world this year with at least 7 per cent growth despite the challenges posed by the Ukraine crisis. Investors are looking ahead to the macro-economic data - Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be out later in the day.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green on hopes a key reading on U.S. inflation will show some cooling, while the U.S. dollar was restrained by the risk of higher European interest rates and Japanese intervention. Back home, auto stocks remained in focus as automobile industry body Siam said domestic sales of passenger vehicles (PVs) increased by 21.1 per cent in August to 281,210 units, and added that good monsoon and the upcoming festive season were likely to increase the demand in the coming months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60209.13, up by 415.99 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 59912.29 and 60259.72. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.74%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.49%, TECK up by 1.32%, Realty up by 1.15%, Basic Materials up by 0.90% and Capital Goods up by 0.86%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 1.97%, Infosys up by 1.69%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.52%, Titan Co up by 1.31% and Axis Bank up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.15% and HDFC down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Railways has said the overall revenue of Indian Railways at the end of August 2022 was Rs 95,486.58 crore, showing an increase of Rs 26,271.29 crore or 38 per cent over the corresponding period of last year. It stated the revenue from passenger traffic was Rs 25,276.54 crore, an increase of Rs 13,574.44 crore (116 per cent) year-on-year.

Passenger traffic also increased compared to last year in both the segments -- reserved and unreserved. The growth from the long distance reserved mail express trains has been sharper than the same in passenger and suburban trains. The other coaching revenue stood at Rs 2,437.42 crore, higher by Rs 811.82 crore (50 per cent) over the corresponding period of last year. This is being fuelled by robust growth in the parcel segment of Indian Railways. Moreover, it stated goods revenue climbed by Rs 10,780.03 crore (or 20 per cent) to Rs 65,505.02 crore till August-end this year.

This has been achieved through incremental loading of more than 58 MT and 18 per cent growth in the net tonne-kilometers (NTKMs) during the period. Food grains, fertiliser, cement, mineral oil, container traffic and balance other goods segments have been important contributors in this growth, in addition to the coal transportation. Besides, It added the sundry revenue was Rs 2,267.60 crore, showing an increase of Rs 1105 crore or 95 per cent over the corresponding period of last year. Railways' total revenue during the entire last fiscal (2021-22) stood at Rs 1,91,278.29 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17937.95, up by 104.60 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 17889.15 and 17970.60. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.33%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.06%, Infosys up by 1.58%, UPL up by 1.54% and Tata Consumer Product up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 1.42%, JSW Steel down by 0.59%, Asian Paints down by 0.29%, HDFC down by 0.22% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 292.80 points or 1.04% to 28,507.55, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 233.80 points or 1.6% to 14,817.22 and Straits Times advanced 7.24 points or 0.22% to 3,270.19.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 20.62 points or 0.28% to 7,222.04.