Domestic indices trade with gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s gains with positive start on Thursday tracking positives cues from Asian counterparts. Markets are holding their gains in early deals with almost all the sector indices trading in green, except Auto. Foreign fund inflows aided the markets. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth net Rs 922.84 crore on July 26. Traders took note of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s statement that India would be among the top three economies in the world in his third term. Also, broader indices are outperforming larger peers with gains of over half a percent each. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher, despite the negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders react to the US Fed's widely expected decision to resume hiking interest rates following a pause last month. The Fed decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points. Now, traders also look ahead to The European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan that scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Back home, the Goods and Services Tax Council meeting to be held of August 02. The agenda is expected to include a final decision on the proposed 28 per cent GST on online gaming, casinos and horse racing. In stock specific developments, Cipla rallied on strong Q1 numbers. However, Tech Mahindra lost on poor Q1 earnings. RVNL declined after the government plans to divest 1.96 per cent stake via offer for sale (OFS).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66980.99, up by 273.79 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 66834.12 and 66984.17. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.60%, Metal up by 0.74%, Industrials up by 0.70%, Capital Goods up by 0.64% and Realty up by 0.62%, while Auto down by 0.55% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 1.68%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.33%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.13%, Asian Paints up by 1.12% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.71%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.98%, NTPC down by 0.32%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.21% and Indusind Bank down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the India’s economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid bare his blueprint for a third term of his government, and said that India will become the third largest economy in the world with a faster growth rate than now. PM Modi government will complete 10 years in office next May and he is seeking a third term on development plank. The next general elections are due in May 2024.

He said ‘We have to achieve the target of making India a developed nation in the next 25 years’. citing a NITI Aayog report that talked of 13.5 crore poor being lifted out of poverty, he said India can definitely eradicate poverty. Reeling out statistics of development from the number of airports to railway line electrification to expansion of city gas during his nine-year tenure, the Prime Minister said India was the 10th largest economy when the BJP government took office in 2014. The country is now ranked fifth in the world behind the US, China, Germany and Japan.

He noted that ‘We will make India a developed nation working on the principle of nation first, citizen first. He said that Bharat Mandapam, which will host the G20 summit in September under India's presidency, will promote conference tourism. He said ‘World will witness rising stature of India when newly built Bharat Mandapam will host G20 summit’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19855.65, up by 77.35 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 19821.65 and 19867.55. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 7.89%, Divi's Lab up by 1.81%, Hindalco up by 1.74%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.68% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.85%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.81%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.71%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.67% and NTPC down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng jumped 251.32 points or 1.3% to 19,616.46, Nikkei 225 surged 187.42 points or 0.57% to 32,855.76, Taiwan Weighted advanced 85.24 points or 0.5% to 17,247.79, Straits Times rose 21.33 points or 0.65% to 3,326.29, Shanghai Composite added 14.10 points or 0.44% to 3,237.13 and KOSPI was up by 13.43 points or 0.52% to 2,605.79, while Jakarta Composite was down by 9.75 points or 0.14% to 6,938.53.