Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by gains in index heavyweights Power Grid Corporation, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever. Traders took some support with a labour bureau has said that retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased to 5.99 per cent and 5.84 per cent, respectively, in May 2023. Some support also came 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. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,942.62 crore on June 20. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors await Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimonies due today and tomorrow for clues on the monetary policy path ahead. Powell will give his semi-annual report to Congress after keeping interest rates unchanged at last week's FOMC meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63518.39, up by 190.69 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 63355.95 and 63588.31. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.87%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.95%, Utilities up by 0.87%, Telecom up by 0.86%, Realty up by 0.75% and Capital Goods up by 0.69%, while Metal down by 0.74% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 1.61%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.20%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.09%, Wipro up by 0.88% and Reliance Industries up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 0.64%, Tata Steel down by 0.52%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.36%, Axis Bank down by 0.35% and Sun Pharma down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that after clocking a 4 per cent compound annual growth rate over the past four years, cement companies are likely to cut prices marginally by 1-3 per cent this fiscal despite healthy demand, owing to the increasing competition. Report stated cooling input costs will also help cut retail prices. 

He stated prices have already moderated since early 2023 on the back of a gradual softening of energy costs and manufacturers' efforts to gain market share in a seasonally strong fourth quarter. The cement prices hit an all-time high of Rs 391 per 50/kg bag last fiscal. It noted the record price run-up was due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, followed by a sharp surge in input costs, especially thermal coal, further aggravated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Besides, it said the rising competitive intensity can be gauged from the fact that for the first time in several years, there were no pre-monsoon price hikes in April and May despite steady demand. The drive to push market share is evident from the top five players who control 55 per cent volume share last fiscal compared to 49 per cent pre-pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18852.70, up by 36.00 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 18808.60 and 18875.90. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.01%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.70%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.10%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.00% and Tata Consumer Product up by 0.95%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.57%, Hindalco down by 1.12%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.77%, Tata Motors down by 0.68% and Axis Bank down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 19.77 points or 0.12% to 17,165.14, Hang Seng declined 373.52 points or 1.94% to 19,233.56, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.21 points or 0.41% to 3,227.15 and KOSPI dropped 18.51 points or 0.71% to 2,586.40.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 1.9 points or 0.03% to 6,662.36, Straits Times rose 4.8 points or 0.15% to 3,225.03 and Nikkei 225 surged 230.02 points or 0.69% to 33,618.93.