Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, helped by an uptick in Metal, PSU and Industrials stocks. Sentiments remained positive as a private survey showed with business conditions improving to the greatest extent in over two years, India's manufacturers ended 2022 on a sweet note. Manufacturers scaled up production and the upturn in output was sharp and the best seen since November 2021. The manufacturing purchasing managers' index, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 57.8 in December from November's 55.7. This reading is the highest since October 2020 and above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction for an 18th straight month. Some support also came as data showed that the output of eight core industries increased by 5.4 per cent in November 2022 as against a 3.2 per cent growth in the same month last year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity segments. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in red on lingering inflation concerns and soaring Covid-19 cases in China.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61056.82, up by 216.08 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 60764.63 and 61079.51. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.18%, PSU up by 0.94%, Industrials up by 0.79%, Telecom up by 0.68% and Bankex up by 0.65%, while Healthcare down by 0.25%, IT down by 0.11%, Consumer Durables down by 0.08% and TECK down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.99%, Tata Motors up by 1.53%, ICICI Bank up by 1.40%, NTPC up by 1.11% and Axis Bank up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.61%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.85%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.69% and HCL Technologies down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in its latest data report has showed that India's unemployment rate rose to 8.30% in December 2022, the highest in 16 months, from 8.00% in the previous month.

It stated the urban unemployment rate rose to 10.09% in December from 8.96% in the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.44% in December from 7.55% in the previous month. Further, it mentioned in December, the unemployment rate rose to 37.4% in the northern state of Haryana, followed by 28.5% in Rajasthan and 20.8% in Delhi.

CMIE’s managing director -- Mahesh Vyas said the rise in the unemployment rate was 'not as bad as it may seem,' as it came on top of a healthy increase in the labour participation rate, which shot up to 40.48% in December, the highest in 12 months. He asserted, most importantly, the employment rate has increased in December to 37.1%, which again is the highest since January 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18165.50, up by 60.20 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 18086.50 and 18173.85. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.86%, Hindalco up by 2.46%, Tata Motors up by 1.51%, ICICI Bank up by 1.40% and ONGC up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.39%, Asian Paints down by 1.46%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.89%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.85% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; KOSPI fell 4.94 points or 0.22% to 2,231.46 and Jakarta Composite lost 19.85 points or 0.29% to 6,830.77.