Sensex, Nifty add gains in early afternoon deals

Extending their gains, Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their intraday high points in early afternoon deals, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at Telecom and Metal stocks. Domestic sentiments got boost amid a private report stating that India’s exports of goods and services could touch $900 billion in the current financial year, up from $770 billion in the previous year, keeping resilient despite global headwinds. Meanwhile, another private report stated that as many as 163 Indian companies have invested more than $40 billion in the United States so far which has created nearly 425,000 jobs in the country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the private sector in Singapore continued to expand in April, and at a faster pace, with a PMI score of 55.3. That's up from 52.6 in March, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61427.63, up by 234.33 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 61119.56 and 61453.59. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.70%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.55%, Metal up by 0.76%, Industrials up by 0.72%, TECK up by 0.52% and Healthcare up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 0.29%, FMCG down by 0.18% and Utilities down by 0.13% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.22%, Asian Paints up by 1.47%, HDFC Bank up by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.24% and Tata Steel up by 1.23%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.71%, ICICI Bank down by 1.06%, Nestle down by 0.74%, Indusind Bank down by 0.57% and ITC down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has underlined the need for focusing on four Is -- infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusivity -- to achieve sustainable growth in the long-term. She said the global economy in the past few years has faced trials and tribulations, and countries have made efforts to protect the vulnerable section of the society at the cost of higher government borrowing.

Sitharaman stressed that there is also a need to involve the private sector to step up investment and innovation. Elaborating on the four Is, she said investment is essential to spur infrastructure development, which has a potential to generate jobs. The third I is for innovation, she said adding innovative solutions from startups are required to deal with issues facing the countries. The fourth I is for Inclusivity, she said, adding unless all the people are included in the development process, there could be conflict in the society. She further said so 4Is for the long-term and in which private sector involvement, not just public sector investment, (is essential). India in the last 3-4 years has spent trillions on infrastructure development.

The Minister further said that there was a need to focus on labour intensive industries and provide skill development. Industries are re-setting themselves in the Web 3.0 era. Governments, together with industry, will have to bring in the skill sets required for a technology-driven society. She said there should be a conscious effort to move to capital expenditure from revenue expenditure. She noted that capital expenditure helps to create assets and creates a multiplier effect in the economy and it benefits the labour & semi-skilled workers. Pitching for global coordination, she said, the world is not decoupled so anything happening anywhere does have an impact on every country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18170.35, up by 80.50 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 18066.70 and 18173.10. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.87%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.42%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.18%, BPCL up by 2.09% and Asian Paints up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.71%, ICICI Bank down by 1.01%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.91%, ONGC down by 0.84% and UPL down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 190.79 points or 0.97% to 19,889.95, Taiwan Weighted added 55.62 points or 0.36% to 15,609.03, Shanghai Composite strengthened 26.83 points or 0.81% to 3,350.10, Jakarta Composite gained 25.55 points or 0.38% to 6,838.27 and Straits Times rose 1.23 points or 0.04% to 3,263.24, while KOSPI dropped 0.46 points or 0.02% to 2,500.94.