Benchmarks remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in green in morning deals, led by gains in Telecom, Banking and Auto stocks amid strong global cues. Sentiments remained positive after data showed domestic retail inflation fell to an 11-month low of 5.88 per cent in November, below the upper end of RBI's target band of 2-6 per cent for the first time since December 2021. Some support also came as a bill seeking to mandate the use of non-fossil energy sources such as biomass, ethanol and green hydrogen was passed by Parliament. Traders also took note of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement that India and the UAE which have inked a landmark trade deal have seen a veritable transformation in their ties which are now beginning to have a broader ripple impact and he emphasized that they want to use this relationship to shape the changing world.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as investors waited for U.S. inflation data that many hope will persuade the Federal Reserve and other central banks to step back from aggressive interest rate hikes. Back home, Power stocks remained in focus as Icra said the all-India electricity demand is expected to grow 7 per cent to 1,480 billion units (BU) in the ongoing financial year. In the preceding 2021-22 fiscal, the all-India power demand was at 1,380 BU.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62252.03, up by 121.46 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 62129.57 and 62311.72. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.54%, Bankex up by 0.38%, Auto up by 0.34%, Industrials up by 0.32% and PSU up by 0.32%, while Realty down by 0.50%, Consumer Durables down by 0.33%, Metal down by 0.29%, Healthcare down by 0.26% and Oil & Gas down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.58%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.29%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.96% and HCL Technologies up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.49%, Titan Company down by 0.48%, Asian Paints down by 0.44%, Sun Pharma down by 0.41% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its latest data has showed that industrial production of India, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), contracted by 4 per cent in October 2022, mainly due to a decline in the manufacturing sector output and subdued growth in mining and power generation. With output growing by 3.5 per cent in September, the industry growth has turned back to negative after a gap of only one month. In August industrial production decreased by 0.7 per cent. The IIP had grown 4.2 per cent in October 2021. For the month of October 2022, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stood at 129.6.

As per the data, manufacturing output, which accounts for 77.6 per cent of the weight of the IIP, contracted 5.6 per cent in October as against 3.3 per cent growth in the previous year. The mining output rose by a meagre 2.5 per cent and power generation increased by 1.2 per cent during the month. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of October 2022 stood at 112.5, 128.7 and 169.3 respectively.

A contraction was recorded for capital goods output - a proxy for investment sentiment - after a gap of nine months at (-) 2.3 per cent. Consumer durables and consumer non-durables output - an indicator of fast-moving consumer goods - also continued to be in negative territory at (-) 15.3 per cent and (-) 13.4 per cent, respectively. As per Use-based classification, the indices stood at 131.1 for Primary Goods, 87.7 for Capital Goods, 143.1 for Intermediate Goods and 155.1 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of October 2022. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stood at 109.7 and 129.6 respectively for the month of October 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18524.90, up by 27.75 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 18490.20 and 18540.85. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 1.54%, Indusind Bank up by 1.43%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.23%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.94% and HCL Technologies up by 0.93%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.02%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.89%, BPCL down by 0.77%, JSW Steel down by 0.61% and Asian Paints down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 109.03 points or 0.56% to 19,572.66, Nikkei 225 surged 104.97 points or 0.38% to 27,947.30, Jakarta Composite soared 52.35 points or 0.78% to 6,786.80 and Straits Times advanced 31.32 points or 0.97% to 3,270.98.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 3.45 points or 0.15% to 2,369.57, Shanghai Composite declined 6.68 points or 0.21% to 3,172.36 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 53.02 points or 0.36% to 14,559.57.