Markets off opening highs in early deals; Bajaj Finance leads gainers

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s northward journey with positive start on Tuesday following overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets opened at fresh record highs as investor sentiment remained firm amid strong FII buying. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 1,995.92 crore on July 3. Some support also came in as provisional data by the Reserve Bank of India showed India's services exports in May climbed 7.7% on year to $27.06 billion, while imports rose 2% to $15.5 billion. Soon, markets off their opening highs and are trading slightly higher with around 0.20% gains in early deals amid cautiousness with data from project tracker the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showing that new investment projects announced in the manufacturing sector declined in the three months ended June 2023.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as traders seem cautious and reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the pace of economic growth amid rising interest rates. Hopes of additional economic stimulus package in China helped limit downside. Back home, coal industry stocks were in focus as the Ministry of Coal achieved an increase in coal production at a growth rate of 8.40 per cent during the first quarter of the financial year (FY) 2023-24. In stock specific developments, Hero Moto rallied after it launches Harley-Davidson X440 in India. On other hand, IDFC First Bank tanked after the bank’s board approved the amalgamation of IDFC with the bank.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65352.53, up by 147.48 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 65313.79 and 65586.60. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.72%, IT up by 0.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.43%, Industrials up by 0.33%, Healthcare up by 0.29%, while Telecom down by 0.68%, Energy down by 0.65%, Oil & Gas down by 0.62%, Utilities down by 0.23%, PSU down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 6.75%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.28%, Titan Company up by 1.30%, Wipro up by 1.29% and TCS up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.97%, Reliance Industries down by 1.27%, NTPC down by 0.84%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.58% and Tata Steel down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) report showed that India has doubled its share of global commercial services exports to 4.4 per cent in 2022 from 2 per cent in 2005. The report titled 'Trade in services for development' also said that in India, South Africa and Trkiye, jobs directly linked to cross-border services exports account for more than 10 per cent of total services sector jobs. It said ‘the developing economies' impressive trade performance under this expanded measure of trade in services is largely due to four economies that rank as leading services exporters and importers -- China; Hong Kong; Singapore; India’.

It added that India and the Philippines will need to upskill and reskill their workforces and invest in the development of their domestic services sectors -- particularly in terms of R&D to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and still remain competitive and progress up the value chain. As per the report, ‘India has become a popular destination for medical travel, and hosted around 3.5 million foreign patients from 2009 to 2019’. The report said foreign patients from developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as from developing countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, go to India in search of less costly, high-quality treatment.

Noting that services value-added accounted for over 51 per cent of India's total exports in 2018, it  said that India's experience highlights how reforms to facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) in services can ‘ignite positive growth dynamics by boosting participation in foreign manufacturing value chains’. It said ‘Fuelled by advances in information and communications technologies (ICT), global commercial services exports almost tripled between 2005 and 2022, a period that saw marked changes in the composition of services trade, with exports of digitally delivered services increasing almost four-fold’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19354.60, up by 32.05 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 19341.70 and 19413.50. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 7.04%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.39%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.97%, Wipro up by 1.30% and Titan Company up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 4.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.89%, ONGC down by 1.47%, Reliance Industries down by 1.20% and Axis Bank down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 361.04 points or 1.08% to 33,392.29, Straits Times fell 5.50 points or 0.17% to 3,201.60, KOSPI dropped 5.47 points or 0.21% to 2,597.00 and Jakarta Composite was down by 1.12 points or 0.02% to 6,695.60. On the other hand, Hang Seng strengthened 100.63 points or 0.52% to 19,407.22, Taiwan Weighted added 38.05 points or 0.22% to 17,122.25 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.15 points or 0.07% to 3,246.13.