Firm trade persists over Dalal Street

Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher over 0.25% each, aided with positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were positive, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India has become face of Industry 4.0 revolution; future of global growth dependent on future of business. Some support came amid reports that rise in high net-worth individuals and their need for diversification beyond traditional investment products contributed to a 15 per cent year-on-year gain in the asset base of portfolio management services to Rs 28.5 lakh crore at June-end.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, as Singapore's industrial production logged a slower-than-expected fall in July. The data released by the Economic Development Board revealed that manufacturing output fell 0.9 percent from a year ago, slower than the 6.6 percent decrease in June. Production has declined for the tenth straight month. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, manufacturing output advanced 1.7 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65057.03, up by 170.52 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 64776.92 and 65083.90. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 1.10%, Industrials up by 1.04%, Realty up by 1.04% and PSU up by 0.80%, while FMCG down by 0.23%, Consumer Durables down by 0.05%, IT down by 0.04% and TECK down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jio Financial Services up by 3.32%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.46%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 1.32%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.25% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.68%, Nestle down by 0.52%, Titan Company down by 0.52% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) in its latest data has showed that engineering goods exports to Russia continued its uptrend and more than doubled to $123.65 million in July 2023 as against $55.65 million in the corresponding period a year ago. It said among the 25 key markets for Indian engineering goods, which contribute to more than 76 per cent of total exports, 14 countries witnessed a year-on-year decline in July.

According to the data, India's overall engineering exports dropped 6.62 per cent to $8.75 billion in the month under review from $9.37 billion in the year-earlier period. This was mainly due to a fall in exports of iron, steel and aluminium coupled with reduced global demand.

EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said in such a situation, there is a need for the country to diversify into other markets. He also said eight consecutive months of y-o-y decline since December 2022 reflects the depressing scenario of global trade. It is an opportunity for the Indian exporters to diversify into the African and Latin American markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19319.30, up by 53.50 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 19249.70 and 19329.05. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining while, one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Jio Financial Services up by 2.05%, BPCL up by 2.01%, Cipla up by 1.62%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 1.49% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.68%, Titan Company down by 0.56%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.49%, Nestle down by 0.47% and Adani Enterprises down by 0.46% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 545.71 points or 1.7% to 32,169.99, Hang Seng advanced 221.23 points or 1.22% to 18,177.61, Shanghai Composite strengthened 30.76 points or 0.99% to 3,094.83, KOSPI increased 24.27 points or 0.95% to 2,543.41, Straits Times rose 29.6 points or 0.92% to 3,219.48, Jakarta Composite gained 28.4 points or 0.41% to 6,923.84 and Taiwan Weighted added 27.68 points or 0.17% to 16,509.26.