Markets continue to trade in green in early afternoon deals

Markets continued to trade in green in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding gains of over 0.30%, aided by positive cues from other Asian market after the release of positive U.S. and Chinese economic data, more stimulus measures from China and signs the European Central Bank is done raising interest rates. Sentiments remained positive as Financial services secretary Ajay Seth said the total revenue from corporate and excise tax collections is expected to be in line with budget estimates for the current fiscal year (FY24). Besides, the private report stated that India has become the 13th country authorised to certify 'measuring and weighing instruments' based on globally accepted standards of the Paris-based IOLM, a development that will boost domestic exports of such products. An IOLM-approved certificate is mandatory to sell weighing or measuring instruments in the international market at present.

Meanwhile, airline industry related stocks were in watch as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest report showed that the domestic air passenger traffic surged 22.81 per cent to 1.24 crore in August 2023 as against 1.01 crore in the year-ago period. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of August 2023 has been 0.65%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 67756.82, up by 237.82 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 67614.42 and 67843.29. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.12%, Telecom up by 0.90%, IT up by 0.71%, TECK up by 0.69% and Healthcare up by 0.41%, while Realty down by 0.75%, Oil & Gas down by 0.66%, FMCG down by 0.44%, PSU down by 0.20% and Utilities down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.11%, Tata Motors up by 1.07%, Wipro up by 1.01% and TCS up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.22%, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.54%, Tata Steel down by 0.46% and NTPC down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce and industry ministry has said that as many as 106 big-ticket infrastructure projects of different ministries worth Rs 11 lakh crore have been recommended for approval under the PM GatiShakti initiative so far this fiscal (FY24). These projects have been recommended by the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM GatiShakti initiative launched in October 2021. Six projects -- including three each from Railways and Road Transport and Highways ministries -- with a total cost of Rs 14,081 crore were assessed.

The inter-ministerial NPG meets every fortnight and appraises infra projects to ensure multi-modality, synchronisation of efforts, and comprehensive development in and around the project location. The initiative was launched to develop an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity infrastructure projects, entailing investments of over Rs 500 crore are routed through the NPG.

The NPG's approval is required before clearance of the project by the Public Investment Board (PIB) or Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry. The maximum number of projects recommended by the group are related to roads, railways and urban development. A total of 40 road projects with a total investment of Rs 3.65 lakh crore, 40 railway projects worth Rs 95,704 crore and 8 urban development projects valued at Rs 79,016 crore have been approved. The NMP (National Master Plan) has a number of layers of geospatial data showing all physical and social infrastructure of an area and land records in one place. It has been designed for faster planning and better design so that the impact of an investment is maximised.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20170.05, up by 66.95 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 20129.70 and 20196.45. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 5.00%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.19%, Grasim Industries up by 1.98%, HCL Technologies up by 1.52% and TCS up by 1.06%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.71%, Asian Paints down by 1.28%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.26%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.19% and Britannia down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI increased 28.39 points or 1.09% to 2,601.28, Nikkei 225 surged 364.99 points or 1.09% to 33,533.09, Straits Times rose 32.58 points or 0.99% to 3,282.09, Hang Seng advanced 181.17 points or 0.99% to 18,229.09, Taiwan Weighted added 113.36 points or 0.67% to 16,920.92 and Jakarta Composite gained 27.4 points or 0.39% to 6,986.73, while Shanghai Composite weakened 13.65 points or 0.44% to 3,112.90.