Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals amid foreign fund inflows and a decline in crude oil prices. Traders also took some support with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s statement that the government expects good production of agriculture crops in the ongoing rabi (winter-sown) season on the back of higher sowing area and favourable soil moisture condition. Some support also came as the Centre released Rs 17,000 crore to the States and Union Territories as the balance compensation for the goods and services tax (GST) for the period, April-June 2022. Meanwhile, India Inc has begun to feel the adverse impact of RBI's interest rate hikes of 190 basis points in the current financial year, industry body CII urged the central bank to consider moderating the pace of its monetary tightening ahead of the forthcoming policy. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in red amid the growing unrest in China over the unprecedented COVID restrictions and the zero-COVID policy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62471.37, up by 177.73 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 61959.74 and 62484.67. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.70%, while Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.60%, Energy up by 1.45%, Auto up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.66% and IT up by 0.59%, while Metal down by 1.40% and Bankex down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.87%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.24%, Asian Paints up by 1.06% and Infosys up by 0.77%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.47%, HDFC Bank down by 1.16%, Tata Steel down by 1.08%, SBI down by 0.49% and HCL Technologies down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Director General of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) -- Udaya Bhaskar has said pharmaceutical exports from India registered a growth of 4.22 percent to reach $14.57 billion during the April-October period of current finical year (FY23) despite a negative trend last month.

In October, exports fell by 5.45 per cent to $1.95 billion. He said strengthening of dollar against the currencies of some of the key countries has also resulted in decline in exports during October besides the sanctions resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war. Further,  Bhaskar said he is hopeful of ending the current fiscal at around $27 billion as against $24.62 billion during the last financial year.

Besides, he said ‘Our exports in the category of vaccines are in a very bad shape. Despite the above and Russia-Ukraine war factors, we are on a positive side.’ India's overall exports contracted by 16.65 per cent to $29.78 billion in October 2022 as compared to the last year's period, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce recently. During April-October 2022, exports recorded a growth of 12.55 per cent to $263.35 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18554.00, up by 41.25 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 18365.60 and 18554.90. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.41%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.24%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.74%, Reliance Industries up by 1.74% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.25%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.98%, JSW Steel down by 1.70%, HDFC down by 1.53% and HDFC Bank down by 1.23% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 155.94 points or 0.55% to 28,129.93, Straits Times fell 14.30 points or 0.44% to 3,230.25, Hang Seng plunged 377.90 points or 2.15% to 17,195.68, Taiwan Weighted lost 169.35 points or 1.15% to 14,609.16, KOSPI declined 23.81 points or 0.98% to 2,414.05, Jakarta Composite weakened 15.89 points or 0.23% to 7,037.26 and Shanghai Composite was down by 36.28 points or 1.17% to 3,065.41.