Gaining momentum continues over Dalal Street

Gaining momentum continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading near their intraday high points, as bulls hold a tight grip amid positive cues from other Asian markets. Heavy buying at Utilities and Power counters lifted markets to trade near day’s high points, while Indusind Bank gained the most on the Sensex. Domestic sentiments remained optimistic, as the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) said that India's growth trajectory will see the country rise from fifth place on the World Economic League Table in 2022 to third in the global rankings by 2037. Besides, adding some comfort among traders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  said that ‘the year 2022 was wonderful, India completed 75 years of Independence while 'Amrit Kaal' began. India progressed rapidly and became the world's fifth-largest economy, and achieved the unbelievable record of 220 crore vaccines and crossed the $400 billion mark in exports.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Taiwan's industrial production declined for the third straight month in November, as both the manufacturing and mining and quarrying sectors contracted sharply. The preliminary data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed that industrial production decreased 4.93 percent year-on-year in November, after a revised 4.27 percent fall in October. Mining and quarrying output declined the most by 6.47 percent annually in November, followed by manufacturing production with a 5.26 percent drop. Back home, defence industry stocks were in watch, after Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash has said that India received foreign direct investment (FDI) worth $3.21 million in defence industries during April-September period of FY23.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60488.42, up by 643.13 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 59754.10 and 60528.77. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 2.06%, while Small cap index up by 2.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 3.39%, Power up by 3.11%, PSU up by 2.66%, Industrials up by 2.55% and Metal up by 2.33%, while Healthcare down by 0.26% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.79%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.79%, NTPC up by 2.51%, SBI up by 2.51% and Tata Steel up by 2.40%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.92%, Nestle down by 0.58% and Sun Pharma down by 0.45% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste has said that with increasing steel production in the country, the focus in 2023 will be on boosting raw material supplies and producing more special grade steel. He noted that India produced 113.43 million tonne of crude steel in January-November 2022, which is a 10 per cent higher compared to the year-ago period. He also said the government aims to double the country's annual crude steel making capacity to 300 MT from 150 MT at present.

The minister stated that last year, the government introduced the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel to enhance the production of the high-end alloy. Special grade steel is used in various sectors, including power, shipping, railways and auto. The demand for this steel is being met through imports. He said ‘our focus will also be on taking measures to support industry besides finding new markets as the production of steel continues to grow in the country’. Ensuring the raw material security for steel production will be a key focus area for the government as the country is mostly dependent on import of raw materials like coking coal. While other minerals are available in sufficient amounts, he said India is dependent on imports for coking coal.

He further said the country imported 57 MT of coking coal in FY22 to produce 120 MT crude steel. New reserves of coking coal are being identified. The country has around 34 billion tonne of coking coal, of which about 18 billion tonne have already been proven. He added that the development of technology for mining and washing can make the country self-reliant besides ushering in huge employment opportunities and accelerating the process of development of urban, semi-urban and rural areas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17991.35, up by 184.55 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 17774.25 and 18006.25. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.72%, Eicher Motors up by 3.08%, Hindalco up by 2.99%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.69% and NTPC up by 2.58%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.46%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.29%, Cipla down by 1.29%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.08% and Tata Consumer Products down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 170.62 points or 0.65% to 26,405.87, Shanghai Composite gained 16.48 points or 0.54% to 3,062.35, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 13.50 points or 0.09% to 14,285.13, Jakarta Composite soared 10.79 points or 0.16% to 6,811.46 and KOSPI rose 3.45 points or 0.15% to 2,317.14.