Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, led by gains in IT, TECK and Consumer Durables stocks. Traders took support with the finance ministry’s report stating that India's improved monsoon performance, continued expansion in manufacturing, and vigorous capital expenditure spending by the public and private sectors augur well for macroeconomic stability and growth during FY24. Traders also took a note of Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that India needs to focus on the manufacturing sector to achieve sustained growth of 7-7.5 per cent until 2030. He also said that manufacturing should be a key growth area given the country's comparative advantage in terms of skilled labour, improved physical infrastructure, well-established industrial ecosystem and large domestic market. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors awaited the U.S. jobs report due later in the day for clues on the Federal Reserve's rate-hike path.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65486.51, up by 245.83 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 65387.18 and 65594.67. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.34%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.49%, TECK up by 1.20%, Consumer Durables up by 1.12%, Telecom up by 0.91% and Industrials up by 0.61%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.13% and Auto down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.33%, HCL Technologies up by 1.94%, TCS up by 1.77%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.39% and Infosys up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.52%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.72%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.62%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.51% and Tata Motors down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has pitched for increasing collaboration between India and LAC countries in areas such as tourism, hospitality and promoting investment flows. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Region nations include Belize, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil, El Salvador, Panama, Chile, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, Guyana, and Suriname.

Goyal said huge opportunities are there in both regions to boost trade and investments. He also said that India and LAC countries need to come together so that their voice can become strong at global fora. Further, he said India can contribute a lot in areas like healthcare and hospitality. He said ‘There is a lot of scope for India and the LAC region to integrate in each other's supply chain.’

Besides, citing a WTO dispute on sugar, he said that India and the LAC countries need to build an atmosphere of trust to deal with such cases. On a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2027-28 from the present about $50 billion, he called for looking at a much more ambitious target.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19457.75, up by 76.10 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 19436.45 and 19498.35. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 4.35%, Wipro up by 2.29%, HCL Technologies up by 1.91%, TCS up by 1.65% and LTIMindtree up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.52%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.36%, BPCL down by 0.91%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.66% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 53.29 points or 0.32% to 16,840.44, Jakarta Composite plunged 14.98 points or 0.22% to 6,883.10, Straits Times fell 6.18 points or 0.19% to 3,297.88 and Nikkei 225 slipped 30.29 points or 0.09% to 32,128.99.

On the global front, Hang Seng advanced 191.72 points or 0.98% to 19,612.59, Shanghai Composite strengthened 15.45 points or 0.47% to 3,295.91 and KOSPI increased 0.67 points or 0.03% to 2,606.06.