Markets trade marginally higher in early deals on Monday

Indian equity markets have made a cautious start on Monday amid weak cues from global markets. Traders were concerned as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) paper has said inflation is slowing down personal consumption expenditure, which in turn is moderating corporate sales and holding back private investment in capacity creation. However, markets are trading marginally higher in early deals on account of value buying. Traders got some support as private report said Indian economy and market will be among the top globally by 2050 and even surpass the US by 2075. Further, traders were getting some encouragement as Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the BJP-led government has created an employment-generating economy in the country.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red, following weak cues from US markets overnight, as traders remained cautious and concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the global economy after aggressive monetary tightening by major central banks last week. The US markets ended lower on Friday on global recession fears. Back home, on the sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in FMCG, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Auto, while selling was witnessed in Telecom, Metal, Realty, TECK and Power. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63041.21, up by 61.84 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 62946.50 and 63070.40. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.49%, while Small cap index up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.85%, Healthcare up by 0.61%, Consumer Durables up by 0.53%, Capital Goods up by 0.45% and Auto up by 0.44%, while Telecom down by 0.35%, Metal down by 0.29%, Realty down by 0.11%, TECK down by 0.02% and Power down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.00%, ITC up by 0.93%, Titan up by 0.86%, Indusind Bank up by 0.85% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.79%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.67%, HDFC down by 0.61%, Tata Steel down by 0.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.51% and Asian Paints down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) paper has said inflation is slowing down personal consumption expenditure, which in turn is moderating corporate sales and holding back private investment in capacity creation. The paper, authored by a team led by RBI Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra, underlined the need for lowering inflation to revive consumer spending and boost corporate revenues and profitability.

The retail inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI), which remained above 5 per cent during 2022-23, is now on the decline and fell to a two-year low of 4.25 per cent in May, following RBI’s monetary policy actions and government measures. Further, it said that bringing down inflation and stabilising inflation expectations will revive consumer spending, and boost corporate revenues and profitability, which is the best incentive for private capex. 

Besides, it said global economic activity has sustained its growth momentum in the second quarter of 2023, albeit with two diverging roads. It added while economies like India are rebounding, some others are slowing or contracting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18699.70, up by 34.20 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 18656.85 and 18704.80. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer up by 2.99%, Cipla up by 1.85%, UPL up by 1.63%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.23% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.04%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 0.65%, HDFC down by 0.61%, TCS down by 0.61%, Tata Steel down by 0.55% and Power Grid down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 108.88 points or 0.63% to 17,093.52, Hang Seng declined 25.97 points or 0.14% to 18,864.00, Shanghai Composite weakened 23.67 points or 0.75% to 3,174.23 and Nikkei 225 slipped 59.78 points or 0.18% to 32,721.76. However, KOSPI increased 12.35 points or 0.48% to 2,582.45, Jakarta Composite gained 14.44 points or 0.22% to 6,654.17 and Straits Times rose 11.55 points or 0.36% to 3,203.15.