Indian markets continue to trade higher in morning deals

Indian markets continued to trade higher in morning deals, boosted by Auto, TECK and IT stocks and tracking gains in Asian equities and a fall in oil prices. Sentiments remained up-beat as Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that foreign trade would become a truly defining feature that would help India become a $30 trillion economy in the Amrit Kaal. Traders overlooked data released by Reserve Bank of India showed India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined $3.8 billion to $524.5 billion for the week ending October 21. Reserves are at their lowest levels since July 2020. Since last year, reserves have declined by $115 billion. Meanwhile, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked states to adopt a multi-modal approach and ensure logistics did not become a burden on exporters. She said the PM Gati Shakti was a beautiful protocol with which a synergy could be brought in. She also said the commerce ministry was working on getting an export policy that would help the exporters by giving them incentives and promoting many things.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as investors awaited this week's Federal Reserve meeting for clues on whether a pivot on the pace of rate hikes is on the table. Back home, stocks related to steel industry remained in watch as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India has set a target to double the crude steel production capacity from 154 million tonnes per annum now to 300 million tonnes per annum in the next 9 to 10 years in an order to boost indigenous capabilities.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60561.75, up by 601.90 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 60246.96 and 60606.97. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.79%, TECK up by 1.46%, IT up by 1.33%, Telecom up by 1.21% and FMCG up by 0.90%, while Metal down by 0.07% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.36%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.50%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.29%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.06% and HCL Tech. up by 1.89%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.83%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.58% and Tata Steel down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government in its report on ‘infrastructure projects for September 2022’ has said that the road transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects at 262, followed by railways at 115 and the petroleum sector at 89. It mentioned in the road transport and highways sector, 262 out of 835 projects are delayed. In railways, out of 173 projects, 115 are delayed, while for petroleum, 89 out of 140 projects are delayed, as per the latest flash report on infrastructure projects for September 2022.

About the road transport and highways sector, it stated that the total original cost of implementation of 835 projects when sanctioned, was Rs 4,94,300.45 crore. This was subsequently anticipated at Rs 5,26,481.88 crore, implying a cost overrun of 6.5 per cent. The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 3,21,980.33 crore, which is 61.2 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

About railways, it said the total original cost of implementation of 173 projects when sanctioned, was of the order of Rs 3,72,761.45 crore, which later increased to Rs 6,23,008.98 crore, implying a cost overrun of 67.1 per cent. The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 3,50,349.9 crore, which is 56.2 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects.

Besides, in the petroleum sector, it said the total original cost of implementation of 140 projects when sanctioned, was of the order of Rs 3,64,330.55 crore, which rose to Rs 3,84,102.18 crore, showing a cost overrun of 5.4 per cent. The expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 is Rs 1,38,460.78 crore, which is 36 per cent of their anticipated cost of the projects.

The Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Division (IPMD) is mandated to monitor central sector infrastructure projects costing Rs 150 crore and above based on the information provided on the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS) by the project implementing agencies. The IPMD comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The second-most delayed project is the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail project which is delayed by 247 months. The third-most delayed project is Belapur-Seawood-Urban Electrified Double Line, which is delayed by 228 months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17956.75, up by 169.95 points or 0.96% after trading in a range of 17899.90 and 17972.15. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.34%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.34%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.30%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.08% and Eicher Motors up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.27%, NTPC down by 0.69%, Tata Steel down by 0.54% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 131.95 points or 0.89% to 14,995.01, Nikkei 225 surged 416.98 points or 1.54% to 27,522.18, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 149.81 points or 1.17% to 12,938.23, Jakarta Composite soared 43.85 points or 0.62% to 7,099.89, KOSPI rose 21.32 points or 0.94% to 2,289.72 and Straits Times advanced 67.35 points or 2.2% to 3,126.54.

On the global front, Shanghai Composite declined 0.98 points or 0.03% to 2,914.95.