Sensex, Nifty remain higher in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained higher in early noon deals, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with support from the US central bank's latest monetary policy stance - which finally paused the interest rate after raising it for over a year. Sentiments were optimistic as Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said that the average capital investment in many sectors is growing at more than 20 per cent, and there are multiple indicators pointing to a momentum in the economy. Adding more comfort among traders, a private report stated that foreign portfolio investors from the US and Europe are optimistic on India, as reflected in their equity inflows that have recovered to $9.5 billion since March 2023.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Taiwan's central bank retained its benchmark rate after tightening the policy over the last five consecutive meetings. In a unanimous vote, the central bank board decided to maintain the key discount rate at 1.875 percent. The move came after the US Federal Reserve paused its policy tightening after ten consecutive rate hikes. Back home, on the sectoral front, airline stocks were trading higher as passengers carried by domestic airlines during January- May 2023 were 636.07 lakh as against 467.37 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering annual growth of 36.10% and monthly growth of 15.24%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63171.12, up by 253.49 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 62957.17 and 63264.54. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.86%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.81%, Bankex up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.51% and PSU up by 0.50%, while TECK down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.51% and Oil & Gas down by 0.23% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.03%, ITC up by 1.27%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.10%, HDFC Bank up by 0.95% and SBI up by 0.83%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.42%, Wipro down by 1.21%, HCL Technologies down by 0.82%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.75% and Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has indicated that India's exports to the UAE contracted by 10.2 per cent to $4.82 billion during April-May of FY24 against $5.37 billion in the year-ago period. India and the UAE have operationalised a comprehensive free trade agreement since May 1 last year.

According to the data, imports from the UAE too fell to $6.73 billion from $9.67 billion in April-May 2021-22. India's exports to the UAE in 2022-23 rose by 11.8 per cent to $31.3 billion, while imports from that country grew by 18.8 per cent to $53.2 billion in the preceding fiscal due to increased inbound shipments of oil. Exports to the US also declined by about 13 per cent to $12.47 billion.

Imports from America decreased to $6.88 billion during the first two months of this fiscal as against $8.33 billion in the same period a year ago, the data showed. However, imports from China have marginally increased to $15.75 billion during April-May 2023-24 as compared to $15.46 billion in the year-ago period. Exports to China have recorded negative growth. Imports from Russia jumped to $11 billion during the period under review due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil from the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18761.00, up by 72.90 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 18710.50 and 18785.45. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 5.47%, SBI Life Insurance up by 3.04%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 2.13%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.12% and UPL up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.84%, TCS down by 1.47%, Wipro down by 1.25%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.82% and HCL Technologies down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 292 points or 1.47% to 20,120.92, Nikkei 225 surged 220.59 points or 0.65% to 33,706.08, Straits Times rose 24.31 points or 0.75% to 3,267.16 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 22.07 points or 0.68% to 3,275.05, while KOSPI increased 17.25 points or 0.66% to 2,625.79, Jakarta Composite plunged  29.76 points or  0.45% to 6,684.04 and Taiwan Weighted lost  46.07 points or  0.27% to 17,288.91.