Benchmarks trade higher in early deals

Indian markets made positive start on Tuesday as investors are eyeing services PMI data to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Benchmarks add some gains and are trading higher in early deals as buying in Realty, Oil & Gas and Energy stocks. Some support came in with report that rains forecast for swathes of India this month should limit the damage to crops after a delayed monsoon and parched August, leaving the world’s most populous nation with sufficient supplies. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has initiated the process to prepare the interim Budget for 2024-25 by inviting inputs on expenditure from different ministries and departments. It will be an interim Budget as the elections for the Lok Sabha are due early next year. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower amid lack of cues from Wall Street, as traders reacted to data that showed China's services sector growth slowing to an eight-month low in August. However, announcement of new stimulus measures in China helped limit the downside. 

Back home, auto stocks are in focus as credit rating agency ICRA projected that the Indian commercial vehicle (CV) industry could face a potential price hike of 10-12 per cent due to the implementation of multiple proposed regulatory changes. In stock specific development, Zen Technologies rose as it bagged order worth Rs 123.3 crore from the Ministry of Defence.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65787.96, up by 159.82 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 65619.34 and 65789.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.96%, while Small cap index was up by 0.95%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.53%, Oil & Gas up by 1.22%, Energy up by 1.10%, Consumer Durables up by 1.04% and Healthcare up by 1.03%, while Metal down by 0.30% was the sole losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.31%, Sun Pharma up by 1.02%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.96%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.78% and Nestle up by 0.75%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 0.70%, Tata Steel down by 0.57%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.50%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.47% and HDFC Bank down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a circular on 'Operation of Pre-Sanctioned Credit Lines at Banks through UPI' has said the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) System will also include pre-sanctioned credit lines issued by banks for transactions. Earlier, only the deposited amount could be transacted through the UPI System. In April, the RBI proposed to expand the scope of the UPI by enabling transfer to/from pre-sanctioned credit lines at banks. 

Currently, it said savings accounts, overdraft accounts, prepaid wallets and credit cards can be linked to UPI. The scope of UPI is now being expanded by the inclusion of credit lines as a funding account. It said ‘Under this facility, payments through a pre-sanctioned credit line issued by a Scheduled Commercial Bank to individuals, with the prior consent of the individual customer, are enabled for transactions using the UPI System’.

This can reduce the cost and help in the development of unique products for Indian markets. UPI, used for immediate money transfer through mobile devices round the clock, transactions crossed the 10-billion-mark in August. The number of UPI transactions in July was 9.96 billion (996.4 crore) and 9.33 billion in June.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19577.20, up by 48.40 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 19528.80 and 19578.80. There were 37 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JIO Financial Services up by 2.37%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.27%, Titan Company up by 1.30%, BPCL up by 1.17% and Sun Pharma up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.14%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.79%, JSW Steel down by 0.68%, Tata Steel down by 0.61% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.55% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng declined 285.31 points or 1.54% to 18,558.85, Nikkei 225 slipped 49.46 points or 0.15% to 32,889.72, Taiwan Weighted lost 27.3 points or 0.16% to 16,762.39, Shanghai Composite weakened 19.9 points or 0.63% to 3,157.16, Straits Times fell 7.3 points or 0.23% to 3,231.67, Jakarta Composite plunged 7.08 points or 0.1% to 6,989.67 and KOSPI was down by 2.82 points or 0.11% to 2,581.73.