Firm trade persists over Dalal Street

Firm trade continues over the Dalal Street in early noon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains of around 0.35% each, aided by heavy buying at IT and TECK counters. Sentiments remained upbeat, as the data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have remained net buyers in Indian stock markets for the fifth straight month. FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 7,936 crore, Rs 11,631 crore, Rs 43,838 crore, and Rs 47,148 crore in March, April, May, and June, respectively. In July too they have been firm and so far in the month infused funds worth Rs 30,660 crore. Besides, with an aim to increase circulation of the rupee in the Gulf region, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has inked two memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE) in Abu Dhabi for establishing a Framework to Promote the Use of Local Currencies viz. the Indian rupee (INR) and the UAE Dirham (AED) for cross-border transactions; and cooperation for interlinking their payment and messaging systems.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Indonesia's foreign trade surplus decreased in June from a year ago as exports fell faster than imports. The figures from Statistics Indonesia showed that the trade surplus shrank to $3.45 billion in June from $5.12 billion in the same month last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66292.67, up by 231.77 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 66015.63 and 66310.96. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 1.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.84%, TECK up by 1.34%, Metal up by 1.03%, Healthcare up by 0.91% and Industrials up by 0.66%, while Auto down by 0.43% and Bankex down by 0.10% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 4.22%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.16%, Infosys up by 1.76%, Reliance Industries up by 1.35% and HCL Technologies up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.98%, Tata Motors down by 0.95%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.84%, ICICI Bank down by 0.67% and Titan Company down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest data has indicated that automobile exports from India declined 28 per cent in the April-June period this year (Q1FY24) hit by monetary crisis in Africa and various other developing countries. Overall exports stood at 10,32,449 units in Q1FY24 as compared with 14,25,967 units in the same period of last year. 

According to the data, total passenger vehicle shipments stood at 1,52,156 units in the June quarter, down 5 per cent from 1,60,116 units in April-June period of 2022. Passenger cars shipments dropped to 94,793 units in the period under review from 1,04,400 units in the year-ago period. Similarly, utility vehicle shipments saw a marginal decline to 55,419 units in the first quarter this fiscal as against 55,547 units in the same period of last year. Two-wheeler exports declined 31 per cent to 7,91,316 units in the April-June period from 11,48,594 units in the year-ago period. Similarly, commercial vehicle shipments dipped to 14,625 units in the first quarter, down 25 per cent from 19,624 units in the April-June period of 2022-23 fiscal. Three-wheeler exports also declined 25 per cent to 73,360 units in the period under review from 97,237 units in June quarter of last fiscal.

SIAM Director General (DG) Rajesh Menon has said that all vehicle segments have seen a drop in exports in the first quarter, as there has been a devaluation of currencies in many destinations of exports, especially in Africa and other developing countries. He also noted that these countries have been facing challenges of availability of foreign exchange, which is limiting the sales for vehicles and countries are focusing more on imports of essential items, though the demand for vehicles from consumers exists in these markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19634.50, up by 70.00 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 19562.95 and 19641.90. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.20%, LTIMindtree up by 3.22%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.08%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 2.39% and Infosys up by 1.70%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.19%, ONGC down by 1.15%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.09%, Tata Motors down by 1.01% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times fell 8.44 points or 0.26% to 3,240.19, KOSPI dropped 12.26 points or 0.47% to 2,616.04 and Shanghai Composite weakened 38.53 points or 1.2% to 3,199.17, while Jakarta Composite gained 24.97 points or 0.36% to 6,894.54 and Taiwan Weighted added 7.22 points or 0.04% to 17,290.93.