Benchmarks add some gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks added some gains in morning deals tracking strength in global markets. Traders took support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of this fiscal (Q1FY24) should be good and that the government's priority is to tame inflation, which has touched a 15-month high. She also said that green shoots of private capital expenditure upcycle can be palpably felt as the government's enhanced capital expenditure is now crowding in private sector investments. Some support also came with the commerce ministry’s statement that Indian and UK officials will continue their negotiations till the month-end to iron out differences on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). It said this meeting will be followed by a review at the higher level. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher following the positive cues from global markets as traders reacted positively to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium and made cautious moves.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65015.48, up by 128.97 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 64776.92 and 65064.14. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Industrials up by 0.94%, Healthcare up by 0.83%, Realty up by 0.79% and Auto up by 0.76%, while IT down by 0.29%, TECK down by 0.26%, FMCG down by 0.09% and Consumer Durables down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JIO Financial Services up by 4.12%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.25%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.23%, Sun Pharma up by 1.21% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.97%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.70%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.68%, Asian Paints down by 0.46% and Nestle down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has said Indian and UK officials will continue their negotiations till the month-end to iron out differences on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). It said this meeting will be followed by a review at the higher level. Following the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting (TIMM) at Jaipur, the progress of the negotiations was reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK's Secretary of State for Trade Kemi Badenoch on August 26.

It said 'Teams are going to continue negotiations till the end of August 2023 which will be followed by stock taking at the higher level'. While expressing satisfaction over the last 12 rounds of negotiations wherein several chapters have been finalized, both exuded confidence that the next round of talks to be similarly successful.

The ministry added 'Both Chief Negotiators apprised the ministers about the current state of play, issues outstanding for resolution and their continuous joint efforts to iron out the same'.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19317.65, up by 51.85 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 19249.70 and 19328.00. There were 34 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JIO Financial Services up by 2.89%, BPCL up by 1.87%, Cipla up by 1.53%, Sun Pharma up by 1.35% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.34%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.88%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.72%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.53%, Titan Company down by 0.43% and Asian Paints down by 0.41% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 304.53 points or 1.67% to 18,260.91, Taiwan Weighted added 53.77 points or 0.33% to 16,535.35, Straits Times rose 33.41 points or 1.05% to 3,223.29, Shanghai Composite strengthened 70.37 points or 2.25% to 3,134.44, Jakarta Composite gained 21.58 points or 0.31% to 6,917.02, KOSPI increased 16.65 points or 0.66% to 2,535.79 and Nikkei 225 surged 512.47 points or 1.62% to 32,136.75.