Benchmarks end higher for second straight session on Tuesday

Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the second straight session on Tuesday, led by broad-based gains amid a rebound in the global equities. Key gauges made gap-up opening and traded in fine-fettle in early deals as traders took some solace 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. Foreign fund inflows also aided the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 312.31 crore on September 19, as per provisional data available on the NSE.  Traders took a note of 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.

Bourses maintained healthy gains in late afternoon session, taking support from reports that the commerce and industry ministry is planning a multi-media campaign to promote over 400 GI (Geographical Indication) products such as Darjeeling Tea, Chanderi Fabric, Mysore Silk, and Kashmir Walnut Wood Carving. It added this would further increase employment avenues for the producers and boost the economy. Some optimism also came after report stated that India and Saudi Arabia have discussed the feasibility of institutionalizing trade in rupee and riyal and the introduction of UPI (Unified Payment Interface) and RuPay card there. Diversification and expansion of trade and commerce, removal of trade barriers, automatic registration and marketing authorization of Indian pharma products in Saudi Arabia, feasibility of institutionalizing Rupee-Riyal trade, introduction of UPI and Rupay cards in Saudi Arabia; were amongst the key points of discussion.

On the global front, Asian markets settled higher on Tuesday following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street, with traders remaining cautiously optimistic as they believe the heavy selling in recent sessions has been overdone. They also await the US Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday. European markets were trading lower after Sweden's central bank hiked interest rates by a full percentage point to 1.75 percent in a surprise move and data showed German producer prices rose in August at their strongest rate since records began both in annual and monthly terms.

Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus as Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said the government will soon announce export quota of sugar for next marketing year starting October. In stock specific developments, shares of Mcleod Russel soared as Carbon Resources intends to take over the company. Banking stocks also were in watch as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that bank deposit rates are likely to go up further as credit growth is outpacing the deposit growth by a wide margin.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 578.51 points or 0.98% to 59,719.74 and the CNX Nifty was up by 194.00 points or 1.10% to 17,816.25.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 60,105.79 and 59,556.91, respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.65%, while Small cap index was up by 1.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.81%, Consumer Durables up by 2.17%, Auto up by 1.59%, Realty up by 1.53% and Metal up by 1.34%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 4.71%, Indusind Bank up by 3.12%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.88%, Tata Steel up by 2.62% and Titan Company up by 2.39%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.64%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.19%, Infosys down by 0.14% and Reliance Industries down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, welcoming the National Logistics Policy launched by the government, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has said that the policy has the potential to significantly reduce costs, improve industry competitiveness, and along with Gati Shakti the resultant unified policy environment would substantially strengthen the logistics sector through optimum inter-ministry coordination and deployment of resources.

FICCI stated that combining the strengths of different modes of transport, adopting technology, and digitization will give a major fillip to the industry. The National Logistics Policy and the PM Gati Shakti would significantly help to reduce costs and augment competitiveness. The logistics policy is aimed at bringing down the logistic costs and improving the competitiveness of domestic goods in the global market.

It further said with PM Gati Shakti significantly boosting the pace of infrastructure development in the country, it is an opportune time for an integrated tech-enabled approach to logistic operations to bridge efficiency gaps and improve industry competitiveness. The focus on building an efficient multimodal transport mix, comprising 45 per cent of freight movement by road, 40 per cent by rail and 15 per cent through coastal shipping and inland waterways, in the National Logistics Policy is significant. It will reduce costs, but importantly, will help create jobs in the nascent opportunities like inland waterway. 

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,919.30 and 17,744.40. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 5.75%, Cipla up by 5.52%, Sun Pharma up by 4.17%, Eicher Motors up by 3.61% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.88%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 0.94%, Grasim Industries down by 0.81%, Nestle down by 0.76%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.28% and Coal India down by 0.24% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 13.86 points or 0.19% to 7,222.82, France’s CAC decreased 51.28 points or 0.85% to 6,010.31 and Germany’s DAX decreased 92.22 points or 0.72% to 12,711.02.

Asian markets settled higher on Tuesday, tracking wall street gains overnight, despite lingering uncertainty over the quantum of US Federal Reserve policy rate hike. Investors are focused on the Fed’s policy meeting slated to begin later today, where the Fed is expected to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points to tame high inflation. Chinese shares rose after the Chinese central bank kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged in line with market expectations. Moreover, Japanese shares gained even as Core inflation in Japan increased 2.8 percent from a year ago, the fastest rate of increase since late 2014.