Markets extend opening gains in early deals; Sensex reclaims 60K mark

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Tuesday tracking positive cues from global counterparts. Japan's Nikkei rallied after the new Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda vowed to maintain the bank's ultra-loose monetary policy. Meanwhile, China's consumer inflation eased last month despite a pickup in economic activity. Domestic indices added strength and are trading firm in early deals with gains of around half a percent each as value buying aided the sentiments. Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their physiological levels of 60,100 and 17,700, respectively. Sentiments also got a boost with foreign fund inflows as they bought shares worth Rs 882.52 crore on April 10. Traders took some encouragement as India Ratings said the share of combined capex of states in the GDP may improve marginally to 2.8% in FY24 from 2.5% in FY23.

Market participants overlooked report that a private weather forecaster predicted ‘below normal’ monsoon in India in 2023 on account of El Nino conditions. Investors keeping eye on the earnings announcements scheduled during the week. In stock specific developments, Neogen Chemicals surged after it signed agreement with Japanese MU Ionic Solutions Corporation (MUIS). Shilpa Medicare soared after the USFDA gave nod to its its ANDA, Apremilast tablets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60127.87, up by 281.36 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 59968.30 and 60137.76. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.65%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.62%, Power up by 1.27%, Bankex up by 1.19%, Realty up by 1.10%, PSU up by 1.04%, while there was no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.28%, SBI up by 1.62%, Sun Pharma up by 1.11%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.01% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.50%, TCS down by 0.37%, HDFC down by 0.12% and Infosys down by 0.04% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are being signed in a much ‘faster’ way nowadays and also stated that the India-UK FTA negotiations are ‘going on as we speak’. She said ‘FTAs are being signed in a much faster way nowadays. We've just concluded one with Australia. Earlier we concluded with UAE, Mauritius and with ASEAN. We have extended quota-free and tariff-free regime to Least Developed Countries’. The India-UK Free Trade Agreement talks were launched on June 17, 2022.

About India's wish to pursue trade with multilateral groups, she said ‘I think India has shown very clearly its initiative is working out well in pursuing with countries and agreeing to have FTA with them. We've had agreements with ASEAN, free trade agreements both in goods and services with ASEAN, we have had with Korea, with Japan. So free trade agreements have bilaterally or with multilateral groups been the route which India has had till before 2014 and now between 2019 and today, we've had at least three major agreements signed. So, we shall proceed in that route, with the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Canada. All three are happening now as we speak, the negotiations are going on. So we shall go in those preferential routes.’

Sitharaman further urged World Trade Organisation (WTO) to bring transparency in terms of moratorium. She added that India is poised for a more important role in the global value chains. She also said ‘given the shocks witnessed due to supply chain disruptions, MNCs have become prudent & are diversifying. India is attractive because of its skilled youth and large domestic market’. She highlighted that India's growth is sustainable as it attempts to grow its manufacturing sector and not import products that it manufactures. She added ‘India needs to have resilient value chains come to India for which we came up with Production Linked Incentives (PLI) schemes so that those supply chains can thrive in domestic as well as int'l markets’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17714.15, up by 90.10 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 17663.80 and 17716.80. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.28%, Eicher Motors up by 1.65%, SBI up by 1.53%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.39% and Sun Pharma up by 1.33%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.43%, Asian Paints down by 0.41%, Infosys down by 0.14% and HDFC down by 0.09% were the few losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 359.92 points or 1.3% to 27,993.58, Taiwan Weighted added 49.79 points or 0.31% to 15,925.96, KOSPI increased 33.81 points or 1.35% to 2,545.89 and Hang Seng advanced 22.67 points or 0.11% to 20,353.87. on the other hand, Shanghai Composite weakened 11.55 points or 0.35% to 3,303.81, Straits Times fell 3.87 points or 0.12% to 3,290.56 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.52 points or 0.05% to 6,767.72.