Domestic indices trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday tracking broadly firm cues from global counterparts coupled with value buying after previous session’s lackluster performance. Soon, domestic indices trimmed some of their gains and are trading higher with gains of around quarter a percent each. Initial strength in the market was reflected as Industry body CII said India’s economy is expected to grow in the range of 6.5-6.7 per cent in the current financial year supported by strong domestic drivers and robust capex momentum of the government. Some support also come in as citing a better-than-estimated global growth outlook, lower global crude oil prices and robust services exports, a foreign brokerage has revised upwards its India growth forecast by 70 bps to 6.2 per cent for the current fiscal. Adding more optimism, the finance ministry said GST collection in May rose 12 per cent to Rs 1.57 lakh crore as compared to the GST revenues in the same month last year.

However, gains got trimmed amid foreign fund outflow as provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 71.07 crore on June 1. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as risk sentiment improved after the bill to raise US debt limit and cap government spending in the U.S. was passed by a wide margin late Wednesday to remove a source of uncertainty in the markets. Indonesia and Singapore are closed for Vesak Day holiday. Back home, an inter-ministerial consultation is going on for formulation of a new industrial policy, which would aim at building a globally competitive business environment to increase manufacturing and export. In stock specific development, Hero MotoCorp jumped after posting 7 percent growth in sales in May from last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62580.45, up by 151.91 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 62580.21 and 62719.84. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.51%, Metal up by 0.83%, FMCG up by 0.65%, Telecom up by 0.61% and Industrials up by 0.60%, while TECK down by 0.18% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.05%, Tata Steel up by 1.04%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.84% and ITC up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.09%, Indusind Bank down by 0.68%, Sun Pharma down by 0.21%, Tata Motors down by 0.14% and TCS down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the India’s economic growth, newly elected President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) R Dinesh has said that with support of strong domestic drivers and robust capex momentum of the government, the country’s economy is likely to grow in the range of 6.5-6.7 per cent in the current financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Besides, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.1 per cent in the March quarter of 2022-23, pushing the annual growth rate to 7.2 per cent. The growth has propelled the country’s economy to $3.3 trillion, setting the stage for achieving the $5 trillion target in the next few years. 

He said India’s GDP growth is expected to leapfrog to 7.8 per cent in the next decade (FY22-31) from 6.6 per cent previously recorded. He also said ‘the government’s structural reform agenda has enabled the country to become the highest growing economy in the current scenario, and we believe this can be sustained going forward’. He further said ‘This year is very important in view of India assuming the G20 Presidency. The entire world is looking at India. In the last year, there has been a significant focus on India and the opportunities that arise from this are important for us’.

CII President also expects the consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation to fall within RBI’s target range in 2023-24. He stressed that given the fast moderation in inflation, the RBI should continue with a pause in the short-term lending rate (repo rate) and also change its stance to neutral. The retail inflation declined to an 18-month low of 4.7 per cent in April and the data for May is scheduled to be released later this month. CII also suggested a host of reforms which the government should undertake to boost India’s growth potential.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18534.80, up by 47.05 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 18532.80 and 18573.70. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.74%, Hindalco up by 1.85%, Tata Steel up by 1.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.06% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.14%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.06%, Cipla down by 0.68%, Indusind Bank down by 0.52% and Coal India down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Hang Seng jumped 666.31 points or 3.66% to 18,883.22, Nikkei 225 surged 326.57 points or 1.05% to 31,474.58, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 234.7 points or 1.42% to 16,747.35, KOSPI rose 26.92 points or 1.05% to 2,596.09 and Shanghai Composite was up by 24.43 points or 0.76% to 3,229.06.