Markets continue bull-run; trade in fine-fettle in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their bull-run with optimistic start on Tuesday tracking firm global cues, despite weak macro-economic data. Markets are trading in fine-fettle in early deals with gains of over half a percent each with sustained buying in most of the sector indices. Sentiments got a boost as commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Indian rupee has shown more resilience than most of the other currencies in recent years and the compounded average growth rate of depreciation is lower as compared to pre-2014. Some support also came in as India's agricultural and processed food products exports rose by 30% to $9.6 billion during April-July this fiscal. Besides, foreign fund inflows aided sentiments in markets. As per data available on the NSE, FIIs net bought shares worth Rs 2,049.65 crore on September 12. Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation rate rose to 7% from 6.7% in the previous month, driven by a surge in food prices. Also, India’s industrial production growth decelerated to a four-month low of 2.4% in July, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing, power and mining sectors.

All the Asian markets are trading higher following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The optimism about a slowdown in inflation triggered some buying in the market. Traders also digested data showing Japan's business sentiment improving in the third quarter, while producer prices increased in August. Back home, NBFCs stocks were in limelight as Crisil Ratings said Non-bank lenders' asset growth will jump to a four-year high of 11-12 per cent this fiscal. It added the non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) segment has witnessed three consecutive years of constrained asset growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the growth coming at 5 per cent in FY22. In stock specific development, JSW Steel gained after reporting a 22 percent year-on-year jump in crude steel production in August.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60509.61, up by 394.48 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 60384.38 and 60537.23. 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 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.30%, Basic Materials up by 0.76%, Metal up by 0.63%, Bankex up by 0.57%, Consumer Disc up by 0.56%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 6.93%, Titan Company up by 1.80%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.67%, HDFC Bank up by 1.09% and HDFC up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.11% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.03% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, with poor show by manufacturing, power and mining sectors, India’s industrial production growth, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed down to a four-month low of 2.4 per cent in July. Factory output had expanded 11.5 per cent in July 2021. The data showed that the previous low in industrial output growth was recorded at 2.2 per cent in March this year. IIP grew 6.7 per cent in April, 19.6 per cent in May and 12.7 per cent in June. For the month of July 2022, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stood at 134.6. During April-July this year, IIP rose 10 per cent as against 33.9 per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

As per the data, the manufacturing sector expanded 3.2 per cent in July 2022 compared to 10.5 per cent recorded in the year-ago period. The power sector showed a growth of 2.3 per cent as against 11.1 per cent a year ago. The mining sector witnessed a contraction of 3.3 per cent in July 2022 whereas there was a growth of 19.5 per cent in the year-ago period. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of July 2022 stood at 101.1, 135.2 and 188.9 respectively.

Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investments, rose 5.8 per cent in July 2022 as against 30.3 per cent growth in the year-ago month. The consumer durables segment grew 2.4 per cent compared to 19.4 per cent growth a year ago. The primary goods segment, which accounts for nearly 34 per cent of the index, expanded 2.5 per cent in July compared to 12.4 per cent growth in the year-ago period. As per Use-based classification, the indices stand at 148.9 for Intermediate Goods and 150.1 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of July 2022. Further, the indices for Consumer non-durables stood at 143.0 for the month July 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18053.25, up by 116.90 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 18020.35 and 18060.80. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 6.95%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.41%, Titan Company up by 1.80%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.71% and SBI Life Insurance up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 0.63%, Sun Pharma down by 0.21%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.20%, Divi's Lab down by 0.15% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 29.93 points or 0.10% to 28,572.04, Straits Times rose 15.25 points or 0.47% to 3,289.97, Hang Seng added 79.20 points or 0.41% to 19,441.45, Taiwan Weighted advanced 87.67 points or 0.59% to 14,895.10, KOSPI jumped 61.75 points or 2.59% to 2,446.03, Jakarta Composite soared 67.04 points or 0.92% to 7,321.50 and Shanghai Composite was up by 10.67 points or 0.33% to 3,272.72.