Indian markets maintain upward momentum on strong global cues

Indian equity benchmarks maintained their upward momentum in morning session amid positive global cues. Sentiments got boost with Icra Ratings stating that credit quality of corporates has strengthened further in the first half of the current fiscal with rating upgrades being more than three times that of downgrades, carrying on with the momentum since early FY22. Traders overlooked the preliminary data released by the commerce ministry showed that India's exports contracted by 3.52% to $32.62 billion in September against $33.81 billion in the same month last year, while the trade deficit widened to $26.72 billion. Meanwhile, capital markets regulator Sebi has cautioned investors against unauthorised money mobilisation by entities claiming to provide portfolio management services. Further, the regulator noted that these entities have been luring the public, with a promise of high returns, through pamphlets and social media platforms.  On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green following the broadly positive cues from global markets, as data showing that U.S. manufacturing activity slowed to its weakest pace in 30 months helped ease concerns about aggressive monetary tightening by the US Fed. The up move was supported by bargain hunting, rising oil prices and falling treasury yields.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57950.61, up by 1161.80 points or 2.05% after trading in a range of 57506.65 and 58035.69. 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 1.72%, while Small cap index was up by 1.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.50%, IT up by 2.44%, Capital Goods up by 2.44%, Metal up by 2.42% and TECK up by 2.30%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.94%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.32%, TCS up by 3.01%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.98% and ICICI Bank up by 2.65%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.80% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its latest report has said that India's economic growth is expected to decline to 5.7 per cent this year from 8.2 per cent in 2021, citing higher financing cost and weaker public expenditures. It further said India's GDP will further decelerate to 4.7 per cent growth in 2023.

It mentioned India experienced an expansion of 8.2 per cent in 2021, the strongest among G20 countries. As supply chain disruptions eased, rising domestic demand turned the current account surplus into a deficit, and growth decelerated. It noted that the Production-Linked Incentive Scheme introduced by the government is incentivising corporate investment, but rising import bills for fossil energy are deepening the trade deficit and eroding the import coverage capacity of foreign exchange reserves.

Besides, it stated the government has announced plans to increase capital expenditure, especially in the rail and road sector, but in a weakening global economy, policymakers will be under pressure to reduce fiscal imbalances, and this may lead to falling expenditures elsewhere. Under these conditions, the economy is expected to decelerate to 4.7 per cent growth in 2023.

Moreover, UNCTAD said it expects the South Asia region to expand at a pace of 4.9 per cent in 2022, as inflation increases on the back of high energy prices, exacerbating balance of payment constraints and forcing several governments (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,) to restrict energy consumption.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17232.05, up by 344.70 points or 2.04% after trading in a range of 17117.30 and 17249.20. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 5.04%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 4.15%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.29%, Hindalco up by 3.14% and TCS up by 2.94%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.80% and Power Grid Corp down by 0.31% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 746.15 points or 2.85% to 26,961.94, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 281.67 points or 2.12% to 13,582.15, Jakarta Composite soared 55.90 points or 0.8% to 7,065.62, KOSPI rose 53.75 points or 2.49% to 2,209.24 and Straits Times advanced 25.51 points or 0.82% to 3,132.60.