Sensex, Nifty trade near all-time highs in early deals after cautious start

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Wednesday, following overnight losses on Wall Street and lackluster trade in Asian counterparts, ahead of the US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony later in the day, which could provide clues about the outlook for interest rate moves. Foreign fund outflows from domestic markets also impacted the sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange shows foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,942.62 crore on June 20. But, soon markets gained some strength and are trading near their all-time highs with decent gains of around 0.30% each in early deals. Some support came in as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that India’s stalled monsoon is likely to gain momentum in the next 3-4 days and could cover key rice, soybean, cotton and sugarcane growing regions in the southern, central and western states.

Besides, broader indices are outperforming larger peers with gains in the range of 0.75% to 1.00%. On the sectoral front, cement industry stocks were in focus as Crisil in its report stated that cement prices are expected to slip 1-3% this fiscal, after clocking a 4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past four to a new all-time high of Rs 391 per 50 kg bag last fiscal. In stock specific development, GR Infra traded higher on winning Rs 1,085 crore project from NHAI.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63528.81, up by 201.11 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 63355.95 and 63556.99. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.99%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.83%, Capital Goods up by 0.75%, Industrials up by 0.71%, Telecom up by 0.65% and Power up by 0.64%, while Metal down by 0.65% and Healthcare down by 0.09% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.45%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.04%, HDFC Bank up by 1.03%, Wipro up by 1.01% and HDFC up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.66%, Tata Steel down by 0.48%, Tata Motors down by 0.45%, Nestle down by 0.21% and Asian Paints down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the White House has said that India will be a critical strategic partner for the US in the coming decades, and asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State Visit to the country will affirm the deep and close partnership between the two nations. Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, who will host him at a State Dinner on June 22. The visit also includes an address by the prime minister to the joint session of the US Congress on June 22.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications (NSCCSC) John Kirby said India's growing commitment to playing a more ‘engaged international role, including in the Indo-Pacific Quad, demonstrates a new and growing willingness to join the United States to protect and advance a shared vision of a free, open, and rules-based global order’. Kirby said that ‘as we think about the future of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and building resilient supply chains for clean energy technologies, semiconductors, and other critical and emerging technology, countering climate change, the future of our workforces, and global health, energy, food security, there is no partner more consequential than India’.

He further said the Official State Visit of the prime minister will affirm the deep and close partnership between the US and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together. He said ‘the visit will strengthen our two countries' shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate its strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy, and space’. Kirby added that the leaders will discuss ways to further expand educational exchanges and people-to-people ties as well as work together to confront common challenges from climate change to workforce development and health security. He said as the world's oldest and largest democracies and as key net security providers in the Indo-Pacific, the US and India are increasingly partners of first resort as a combined force for global good.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18866.60, up by 49.90 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 18808.60 and 18867.55. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.17%, Power Grid up by 1.57%, HDFC Bank up by 1.07%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.05% and Wipro up by 1.01%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.62%, Divi's Lab down by 1.20%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.90%, Hindalco down by 0.80% and Sun Pharma down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 373.52 points or 1.94% to 19,233.56, Taiwan Weighted lost 49.3 points or 0.29% to 17,135.61, KOSPI dropped 16.83 points or 0.65% to 2,588.08, Jakarta Composite fell 14.53 points or 0.22% to 6,645.93, Shanghai Composite was down by 13.21 points or 0.41% to 3,227.15. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 74.63 points or 0.22% to 33,463.54 and Straits Times was up by 7.28 points or 0.23% to 3,227.51.