Benchmarks extend gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in morning deals, led by gains in IT, TECK and Banking stocks. Sentiments remained positive as the Monthly Economic Report of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance said India retained its status as an attractive destination among a set of developed and developing economies, as the 5th largest recipient of FDI in the April-June quarter. According to the report released, during Q1 of 2022, India was the 5th largest recipient of FDI among the defined set of developed and developing economies, as a buoyant growth outlook coupled with steady improvement in ease of doing business and supportive government policies retained India as an attractive business destination. Some optimism also came with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent this year and it will be the highest among the world's largest economies. He said India is making progress to become a manufacturing hub while highlighting various aspects of the country's economy.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors awaited the Fed policy meeting this week for directional cues. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, while the odds of a 100-bps rate hike remain at 25 percent. Back home, stocks related to Logistic sector remained in limelight the government unveiled the National Logistics Policy with an aim to expedite the last-mile delivery, helping businesses save time and money. The three main targets of the policy are reducing logistics cost in India to be comparable to global benchmarks by 2030; effort to bring India among the top 20 nations by 2030 in the Logistics Performance Index ranking, and creating a data-driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59215.73, up by 374.94 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 58487.76 and 59261.37. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.13%, TECK up by 1.09%, PSU up by 0.70%, Bankex up by 0.61% and FMCG up by 0.45%, while Telecom down by 0.42%, Metal down by 0.21%, Healthcare down by 0.20%, Consumer Durables down by 0.08% and Capital Goods down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.32%, Infosys up by 1.85%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.54%, Indusind Bank up by 1.47% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.11%, Asian Paints down by 0.94%, Tata Steel down by 0.85% and Titan Company down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to expedite the last-mile delivery, helping businesses save time and money, the government has unveiled the National Logistics Policy. The three main targets of the policy are reducing logistics cost in India to be comparable to global benchmarks by 2030; effort to bring India among the top 20 nations by 2030 in the Logistics Performance Index ranking, and creating a data-driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem. The vision is to develop a technologically enabled, integrated, cost efficient, resilient, and sustainable logistics ecosystem in the country for accelerated growth.

The policy aims at reducing the logistics cost from about 13 per cent of GDP to 7.5 per cent of the GDP and generating jobs in the coming years. Under human resource development, the focus would be given to mainstream logistics in higher education; and the development of online training programmes. A task force would be formed with a mandate to identify action areas.

Under export-import logistics, the focus would be on addressing infrastructure and procedural gaps; and developing institutional mechanisms for trade facilitation. Similarly, as part of the service improvement framework, the policy would talk about improvement in regulatory interface to enable seamlessness between sectors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17643.80, up by 112.95 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 17429.70 and 17660.05. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.28%, SBI Life Insuran up by 2.00%, Infosys up by 1.79% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.53%, Tata Motors down by 1.09%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.90%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% and Tata Steel down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 180.82 points or 0.96% to 18,580.87, Taiwan Weighted dropped 123.57 points or 0.85% to 14,438.19, Straits Times trembled 5.08 points or 0.16% to 3,263.21, KOSPI fell 25.04 points or 1.05% to 2,357.74 and Shanghai Composite declined 4.94 points or 0.16% to 3,121.46.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 7.93 points or 0.11% to 7,176.80.