Key gauges continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by gains in Metal, Healthcare and Energy stocks. Sentiments remained positive with the Reserve Bank stating that India’s forex kitty rose by $12.798 billion to $572.801 billion in the week ended March 17. In the previous reporting week, the reserves had dropped by $2.39 billion to a three-month low of $560.003 billion. Some support also came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will emerge as a ‘developed’ nation by 2047 with efforts of every single individual. He said the dream will turn into a reality with the hard work of every single individual of the country and the government is encouraging collective efforts. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with report that as many as 346 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.46 lakh crore.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street, as traders remain cautious and assess the impact of the banking sector turmoil in the US and Europe. The head of the International Monetary Fund warned of increased risks to financial stability. Back home, Auto stocks remained in focus as Union road, transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari said that if India can use recently discovered reserve of lithium in Jammu and Kashmir, it will become number one automobile manufacturing country in the world.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57754.70, up by 227.60 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 57415.02 and 57851.15. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.83%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.73%, Healthcare up by 0.71%, Energy up by 0.52%, Oil & Gas up by 0.41% and Capital Goods up by 0.31%, while Utilities down by 1.01%, Realty down by 0.93%, Power down by 0.84%, Telecom down by 0.65% and Auto down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.52%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.86%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.80%, Tata Steel up by 0.69% and Nestle up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.93%, Axis Bank down by 0.40%, Tata Motors down by 0.35%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.18% and NTPC down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union road, transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari has said that if India can use recently discovered reserve of lithium in Jammu and Kashmir, it will become number one automobile manufacturing country in the world.  He said ‘Every year, we import 1,200 tonnes of lithium.’
He mentioned ‘Now, in Jammu and Kashmir, we got lithium. (If) we can use this lithium ion, we will be the number one automobile manufacturing country in the world.’

The estimated 5.9-million tonne reserve of lithium, a crucial mineral for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and solar panels, had been discovered in Reasi district by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

He said there is a need to encourage public transport, and electric buses are the future. India has beaten Japan to become the third largest vehicle market in 2022 after China and the USA. According to Gadkari, presently India's automobile industry is worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore, and the sector's contribution to the overall GST revenue is maximum.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17018.00, up by 72.95 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 16918.55 and 17044.90. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.87%, Reliance Industries up by 1.55%, Divi's Lab up by 1.53%, Hindalco up by 1.51% and Apollo Hospital up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 1.88%, Eicher Motors down by 0.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.96%, Adani Ports &Special down by 0.92% and Tata Motors down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 47.23 points or 0.3% to 15,867.47, Hang Seng declined 100.65 points or 0.51% to 19,815.03, Shanghai Composite weakened 34.37 points or 1.06% to 3,231.28, KOSPI dropped 6.32 points or 0.26% to 2,408.64 and Jakarta Composite plunged 37.48 points or 0.56% to 6,724.77.

On the flip side, Straits Times rose 31.85 points or 0.98% to 3,244.49 and Nikkei 225 surged 117.07 points or 0.43% to 27,502.32.