Sensex, Nifty back in green in early noon deals

Erasing all of their losses, Indian equity benchmarks came back in green during early noon deals, supported by buying at IT, TECK and Realty counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders were positive, amid reports that the Commerce and Industry Ministry will hold a two-day Chintan Shivir to discuss ways to promote manufacturing trade, investments, startups, logistics and import substitution, among others. However, gains were limited, amid a private report stating that India-focused offshore funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) witnessed a 9 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in inflows to USD 803 million in the January-March period, mainly due to an uncertain global economic environment.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Hong Kong's unemployment rate decreased further to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years as the labor market strengthened on the back of revived domestic economic activities and a strong rebound in visitor arrivals. The labor force statistics from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.0 percent in the February-April period from 3.1 percent in the January-March period.

Back home, on the sectoral front, the leather sector stocks were in focus, as the commerce ministry is considering introducing an import monitoring system for the leather sector, under which a trader will have to provide advance information about the imports and obtain a registration number. Talks are at an early stage on the issue at present.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61504.62, up by 72.88 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 61251.70 and 61636.82. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.50%, TECK up by 1.24%, Realty up by 0.37% and Auto up by 0.14%, while Utilities down by 1.13%, Power down by 0.88%, Oil & Gas down by 0.66%, Metal down by 0.50% and Healthcare down by 0.33% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.21%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.17%, Infosys up by 1.99%, HCL Technologies up by 1.84% and Wipro up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.85%, Tata Steel down by 0.81%, Titan Company down by 0.60%, Indusind Bank down by 0.59% and Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry is considering introducing an import monitoring system for the leather sector, under which a trader will have to provide advance information about the imports and obtain a registration number. Talks are at an early stage on the issue at present.

Normally under the system, importers are required to submit advance information in an online system for imports of items and obtain an automatic registration number by paying a certain amount of registration fee. Earlier, the government introduced similar system for sectors like coal and steel. The ministry is also considering extending some initiatives such as the production-linked incentive scheme to the leather and footwear sector to further promote the growth of this labour-intensive segment.

Imports of leather and leather products dipped by 26.32 per cent to $61.62 million. During 2022-23, these imports have recorded a growth of 25.62 per cent to $1.02 billion as against $819 million in 2021-22.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18137.90, up by 7.95 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 18060.40 and 18186.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.22%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.09%, Infosys up by 1.96%, HCL Technologies up by 1.81% and Wipro up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.81%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.14%, JSW Steel down by 1.13%, Britannia Industries down by 0.95% and Tata Steel down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 234.42 points or 0.76% to 30,808.35, Taiwan Weighted added 73.04 points or 0.45% to 16,174.92, Jakarta Composite gained 35.1 points or 0.52% to 6,698.21, KOSPI increased 22.39 points or 0.88% to 2,537.79 and Straits Times rose 20.51 points or 0.64% to 3,203.06, while Shanghai Composite weakened 10.91 points or 0.33% to 3,286.41 and Hang Seng declined 215.99 points or 1.09% to 19,511.26.