Benchmarks make slightly positive start on Monday

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Monday amid mixed global cues. Domestic indices are struggling to keep their heads in green. At this point of trade, markets are trading marginally higher on account of sustained foreign capital inflows. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) have net bought shares worth Rs 2,636.43 crore on July 14. Some support came in as the Reserve Bank of India said India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped $1.229 billion to $596.28 billion in the week ended July 7. Besides, broader indices are outperforming larger peers with gains of over half a percent. However, upside remained limited amid cautiousness as India’s exports contracted by 22 per cent, the steepest decline in the last three years, to $32.97 billion in June on account of global demand slowdown, especially in the Western markets like the US and Europe. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as trader's book some profits after the recent rally on the heels encouraging US inflation data. There is also optimism about the US Fed being close to ending its monetary policy tightening. Besides, the Japanese stock market is closed on account of Marine Day holiday. Trading in Hong Kong is delayed due to storm.

Back home, oil & gas sector stocks are in focus amid report that the Indian government has reimposed a windfall tax on domestic petroleum crude, effective July 15. In stock specific development, Angel ONE dropped after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) slapped Rs 1.67 crore monetary penalty and stopped the brokerage from onboarding new authorised persons (APs) for six months over alleged violation of capital market regulations.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66098.61, up by 37.71 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 66015.63 and 66189.50. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.87%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.85%, IT up by 0.85%, Healthcare up by 0.78%, TECK up by 0.59% and Power up by 0.57%, while Realty down by 0.15%, Bankex down by 0.13%, Auto down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.94%, Tata Steel up by 1.20%, Power Grid up by 0.96%, HCL Technologies up by 0.76% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.52%, ICICI Bank down by 0.46%, Tata Motors down by 0.39%, HDFC Bank down by 0.39% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, addressing India's remarkable progress in building unicorns and startups, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar projected that the next 4-5 years will witness substantial growth for such enterprises and the startups in the country will increase by 10 times. The Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and IT, highlighted India's remarkable progress in creating unicorns and startups, how they have successfully entered areas in emerging technologies such as AI, Web3, and deep tech.

From being predominantly focussed on IT and ITes, he said the next 4-5 years will witness substantial growth for startups and unicorns. He also said ‘In 2014, our nation's tech landscape was limited to IT and ITes. However, since then, opportunities have emerged across various domains such as deep tech, AI, data economy, semiconductor design, microelectronics, and high-performance computing’. Due to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, what was once just one-third of the overall tech space has now expanded, presenting immense potential for unicorns and startups.

He further said ‘From 108 unicorns, I am sure we will reach 10,000 in the next 4-5 years. Today, we have over a lakh startups in India and it will increase by 10 times’. He lauded the collaborative efforts between the industry and the government to enhance skill development. Recognising the historic challenges faced by a significant portion of the population lacking skills, the Minister emphasised the transformative impact of PM Modi's Skill India initiative. He said that through strategic partnerships with both big and small companies, the government now works closely to identify necessary skills, creating a comprehensive framework with the active involvement of academia, communities and corporations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19586.75, up by 22.25 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 19562.95 and 19612.15. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.67%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.86%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.82%, Wipro up by 1.80% and LTIMindtree up by 1.65%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.00%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.89%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.69%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.54% and Tata Motors down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Shanghai Composite weakened 38.53 points or 1.2% to 3,199.17, KOSPI fell 13.42 points or 0.51% to 2,614.88 and Straits Times was down by 6.69 points or 0.21% to 3,241.94. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite gained 22.73 points or 0.33% to 6,892.30 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 9.82 points or 0.06% to 17,293.53.