Key gauges turn positive in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in morning deals, led by gains in Power, Utilities and Metal stocks. Traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that he is hopeful of India finalising certain free trade agreements (FTAs) in the next few months, which would help promote exports. India is in the final stages of concluding FTA negotiations with the UK. The country is also negotiating similar pacts with Canada and European Union (EU). Some support also came as with a private report that the country’s per capita income is likely to grow by close to 70 per cent to $4,000 by fiscal 2030 from $2,450 in fiscal 2023, helping it become a middle-income economy with $6-trillion GDP, more than half of which will be coming in from household consumption. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green after Wall Street got back to climbing following more encouraging profit reports and the latest signal that inflation is loosening its chokehold on the economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66317.27, up by 157.07 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 65998.90 and 66321.79. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 1.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.68%, Utilities up by 1.64%, Metal up by 1.55%, PSU up by 0.93% and IT up by 0.92%, while FMCG down by 0.33% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.26%, Tata Steel up by 1.99%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.87%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.65% and TCS up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.06%, Asian Paints down by 0.96%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.76%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said he is hopeful of India finalising certain free trade agreements (FTAs) in the next few months, which would help promote exports. India is in the final stages of concluding FTA negotiations with the UK. The country is also negotiating similar pacts with Canada and European Union (EU).

He stated ‘We can leverage the free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia and we are hopeful that in the next few months, we will finalise many more free trade agreements to help you grow your business with zero duty on finished leather products and footwear available for you to exploit bigger and better markets.’

Further, he also asked the industry to focus on quality and sustainable manufacturing processes to tap business opportunities in the developed world. The Indian footwear and leather industry is not only a major foreign exchange earner but being a labour-intensive sector, it also provides employment to around 4.5 million people, 40 per cent of whom are women.

He said that India has the capacity to become the world's largest and best-quality footwear manufacturer. India is the second largest exporter of leather garments, third-largest exporter of saddlery and harnesses and fourth-largest exporter of leather goods in the world. More than 95 per cent of the production units in this sector are micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) units.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19692.55, up by 46.50 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 19597.60 and 19692.80. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.55%, NTPC up by 2.38%, Tata Steel up by 1.95%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.87% and Power Grid Corporation up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 2.41%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.72%, Britannia Industries down by 1.60%, Asian Paints down by 0.96% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 201.84 points or 1.01% to 20,118.40, Shanghai Composite strengthened 10.16 points or 0.31% to 3,286.09, KOSPI increased 23.84 points or 0.91% to 2,632.16, Jakarta Composite gained 1.82 points or 0.03% to 6,902.05 and Nikkei 225 surged 402.12 points or 1.23% to 33,161.35.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted lost 182.78 points or 1.06% to 17,110.15 and Straits Times fell 0.39 points or 0.01% to 3,370.78.