Persistent buying takes markets to day’s high

Extending their gains, Indian equity benchmarks remained strong in early noon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading near their intraday high points, aided by heavy buying at Capital Goods and Realty stocks along with positive cues from Asian markets. Sentiments remained optimistic, amid a private report stating that the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2023, announced recently, will help in promoting exports of sectors from e-commerce, batteries for electric vehicles and farm equipment. Besides, another private report stated that narrowing current account deficit will help the rupee strengthen against the dollar and appreciate to around 79 by the second half of the current fiscal.

Traders took a note of reports that India’s services sector growth eased in the month of March however remained in growth territory (above 50.0) for the twentieth successive month, amid favourable demand conditions and new business gains. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell to 57.8 in March from 59.4 in February. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also fell to 58.4 in March from 59.0 in February.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as the services sector in Japan continued to expand in March, and at a faster pace, with a services PMI score of 55.0. That's up from 54.0 in February and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Japanese service providers registered a solid rise in new business volumes during March. The upturn was the seventh in as many months and the strongest recorded since February 2019.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59520.92, up by 414.48 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 59094.40 and 59562.78. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.81%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.46%, Realty up by 1.40%, Industrials up by 1.14%, Consumer Durables up by 1.02% and FMCG up by 0.98%, while Power down by 0.86%, Utilities down by 0.81%, Auto down by 0.31%, PSU down by 0.28% and Oil & Gas down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.86%, HDFC up by 2.41%, HDFC Bank up by 2.33%, TCS up by 1.70% and ITC up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.29%, NTPC down by 0.73%, SBI down by 0.73%, Reliance Industries down by 0.59% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has said that passenger vehicle retail sales increased by 14 per cent year-on-year in March 2023 riding on the back of improved supply of electronic components. The domestic passenger vehicle registrations rose to 3,35,266 units in March, from 2,93,016 units in March 2022.

Two-wheeler retail sales rose to 14,45,867 in March, up 12 per cent from 12,86,109 units in the year-ago period. Similarly, the commercial vehicle registrations last month rose to 92,790 units, up 10 per cent from 84,124 units in March last year. Three-wheeler retail sales rose 69 per cent year-on-year to 86,857 units in March. Tractor registrations last month rose to 81,607 units, up 4 per cent from 78,070 units in March 2022.

Total registrations rose to 20,41,847 units in March, up 14 per cent from 17,92,802 units in the year-ago period. For the last financial year, the passenger vehicle registrations rose by 23 per cent to 36,20,039 units, as against 29,42,273 units in 2021-22. Two-wheelers retails rose by 19 per cent to 1,59,95,968 units in FY23 as compared to 1,34,94,214 units in 2021-22. Commercial vehicle retails rose 33 per cent, three-wheelers retail was up 84 per cent and tractor registrations saw an 8 per cent rise year-on-year last fiscal. Total sales increased by 21 per cent to 2,21,50,222 units last fiscal as compared to 1,83,27,326 units in FY22.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17511.10, up by 113.05 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 17402.70 and 17515.85. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.94%, HDFC up by 2.32%, HDFC Bank up by 2.30%, ITC up by 1.72% and TCS up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.24%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.39%, Indusind Bank down by 1.27%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.15% and NTPC down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI increased 14.7 points or 0.59% to 2,495.21 and Straits Times rose 9.89 points or 0.3% to 3,321.01, while Jakarta Composite plunged 1.19 points or 0.02% to 6,831.99 and Nikkei 225 slipped 474.16 points or 1.7% to 27,813.26.