Indian markets maintain upward momentum in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks maintained their upward momentum in the morning session on the back of firm trend in the global markets coupled with sustained buying by domestic institutional investors. Sentiments remained upbeat with a private survey report indicating that Indian consumers are concerned about rising costs but 71 per cent of them believe the economy will recover within a year. Traders overlooked India Ratings in its report expects the current account deficit to hit a 36-quarter high of 3.4 per cent of GDP or $28.4 billion in the June quarter, against a 0.9 per cent surplus a year ago. Meanwhile, the watchdog - Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has amended its regulations to allow sale of one or more assets of an entity undergoing insolvency resolution process, besides other changes. This move will provide better market-linked solutions for stressed companies. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher as investors turned their attention to an expected hefty Federal Reserve interest rate hike this week to tackle inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59903.45, up by 762.22 points or 1.29% after trading in a range of 59556.91 and 59945.42. All the 30 stocks were advancing on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.78%, while Small cap index was up by 1.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.54%, Auto up by 2.14%, Metal up by 2.07%, Consumer Durables up by 1.96% and Industrials up by 1.63%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.64%, HCL Technologies up by 2.31%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.31%, ICICI Bank up by 2.26% and Tata Steel up by 2.08%, while there were no losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India Ratings in its latest note has said that it expects the current account deficit (CAD) of India to hit a 36-quarter high of 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) or USD 28.4 billion in the June quarter 2022, against a 0.9 per cent surplus a year ago.

It mentioned in the March 2022 quarter, the deficit was a moderate 1.5 per cent or USD 13.4 billion, while in Q1FY22 the current account surplus was USD 6.6 billion or 0.9 per cent of GDP when the country was hit by the second wave of the pandemic. Moreover, it stated as a share of GDP, the current account deficit is expected to jump to a 36-quarter high after the 1QFY14 when it was 4.7 per cent.

In absolute terms, it will be at a 38-quarter high after 3QFY13 when the deficit was USD 31.8 billion. Although merchandise exports touched a record high of USD 121.2 billion in Q1FY23, outward shipments are likely to slow down and come in at USD104.2 billion in Q2FY23, growing by a meagre 1.4 per cent in Q2 due to global headwinds.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17864.55, up by 242.30 points or 1.37% after trading in a range of 17744.40 and 17869.50. There were 49 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.98%, Indusind Bank up by 3.65%, Tata Motors up by 3.33%, Hindalco up by 3.14% and HCL Technologies up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng increased 246.25 points or 1.33% to 18,812.22, Jakarta Composite soared 0.15 points or 0% to 7,195.64, Nikkei 225 surged 105.04 points or 0.38% to 27,672.69, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 122.48 points or 0.85% to 14,548.16, Straits Times advanced 14.05 points or 0.43% to 3,270.36, KOSPI rose 14.57 points or 0.62% to 2,370.23 and Shanghai Composite gained 14.27 points or 0.46% to 3,129.87.