Domestic indices trade higher in early deals after flat opening

Indian equity benchmarks made flat opening on Tuesday as markets faces consolidation after previous session’s strong performance amid mixed cues from Asian counterparts. Market participants remained on sidelines ahead of US lawmakers' key vote on lifting the debt limit due to take place on Wednesday. Soon, domestic indices gained momentum and are trading higher in early deals as investors continue to hunt for beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1758.16 crore on May 29, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Traders took encouragement as the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) showed that the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas declined to 6.8 per cent during January-March 2023 from 8.2 per cent a year ago.

Besides, rupee depreciated to 82.68 against the US dollar over its previous close of 82.63 on Monday in early trade, tracking strong American currency against major rivals overseas. In stock specific developments, Sobha jumped on reporting a more-than-three-fold jump in fourth-quarter profit, helped by soaring housing demand. NBCC gained as it clocked a 205 per cent YoY rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 108 crore in Q4FY23, as against Rs 35.39 crore, in the year-ago period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62950.96, up by 104.58 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 62737.40 and 63002.93. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.43%, Auto up by 0.42%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36%, Energy up by 0.33% and Industrials up by 0.32%, while Metal down by 0.66% and FMCG down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.05%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.03%, HCL Technologies up by 0.93%, NTPC up by 0.65% and Titan Company up by 0.42%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.87%, Nestle down by 0.76%, Tata Steel down by 0.55%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 0.46% and HDFC down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in its data showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) into India declined by 22 per cent to $46 billion in 2022-23, as compared to $58.77 billion during 2021-22. The fall in FDI was mainly due to lower inflows in computer hardware and software, and automobile industry. Total FDI inflows, which include equity inflows, re-invested earnings and other capital, declined by 16 per cent to $70.97 billion in the last fiscal as against $84.83 billion in 2021-22.

The data showed that during April-March 2022-23, Singapore emerged as the top investor with $17.2 billion FDI. It was followed by Mauritius ($6.13 billion), the US ($6 billion), the UAE ($3.35 billion), the Netherlands ($2.5 billion), Japan ($1.8 billion), UK ($1.73 billion), Cyprus ($1.27 billion), Cayman island ($772 million), and Germany ($$547 million). The FDI inflows have contracted in 2022-23 from Mauritius, the US, the Netherlands, the Cayman Islands, and Germany. 

Though the computer software and hardware sector attracted the highest inflows of $9.4 billion during the last financial year, these inflows are down as compared to $14.5 billion in 2021-22. Similarly, FDI in the automobile industry dipped significantly to $1.9 billion in 2022-23 as compared to about $7 billion in 2021-22. The other sectors which recorded dip in the inflows in the last fiscal include construction (infrastructure) activities, and metallurgical industries. However, the inflows have recorded growth in sectors including services ($8.7 billion), trading ($4.8 billion), telecommunications ($713 million), pharma ($8.7 billion), 2 billion), and chemicals ($1.85 billion). 

State-wise, though Maharashtra received the highest inflows of $14.8 billion during the last financial year, the inflows are down as compared to $15.44 billion in 2021-22. Similarly, the overseas inflows in Karnataka plunged to $10.42 billion in 2022-23 as against $22 billion in 2021-22. Other states/UTs where FDI dipped in 2022-23 include Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, and West Bengal. On the other hand, FDI in Gujarat has increased to $4.71 billion in 2022-23 as against $2.7 billion in 2021-22. FDI has also reported positive growth in Rajasthan. The FDI equity inflows declined in January, February and March in the last fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18638.90, up by 40.25 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 18575.50 and 18649.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.29%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.14%, HCL Technologies up by 1.12%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.05% and JSW Steel up by 0.90%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.12%, Divi's Lab down by 0.86%, Nestle down by 0.77%, ITC down by 0.76% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 38.17 points or 0.12% to 31,271.71, KOSPI increased 17.94 points or 0.7% to 2,576.75, Jakarta Composite gained 7.01 points or 0.1% to 6,688.11 and Straits Times was up by 3.27 points or 0.10% to 3,198.49. On the other hand, Hang Seng declined 152.47 points or 0.83% to 18,398.64, Shanghai Composite weakened 22.87 points or 0.72% to 3,198.58 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 45.92 points or 0.28% to 16,590.38.