Benchmarks continue to trade in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning deals, tracking an improvement in global cues. Traders took support with private survey showing that growth in India’s dominant services industry accelerated in September as already robust demand strengthened. It also showed businesses were the most optimistic in over nine years. That bodes well for Asia’s third-largest economy, which is expected to be the fastest-growing major economy this fiscal year, defying a global slowdown trend. S&P Global’s India services purchasing managers’ index rose to 61.0 last month from 60.1 in August. The reading was above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction for a 26th consecutive month. Some support also came with Finance Secretary T V Somanathan’s statement that India's retail inflation is likely to ease by December as seasonal factors become more favourable. However, some gains got trimmed as provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 4,424.02 crore on October 4. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher as signs of a weakening U.S. labor market and an overnight plunge in oil prices helped ease concerns around inflation and interest-rate hikes. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65467.58, up by 241.54 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 65443.34 and 65614.48. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.01%, Realty up by 0.97%, IT up by 0.96%, TECK up by 0.86% and Consumer discretionary up by 0.59%, while Utilities down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.57%, PSU down by 0.23%, FMCG down by 0.19% and Metal down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.56%, TCS up by 1.37%, Infosys up by 1.12%, ICICI Bank up by 0.97% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.68%, NTPC down by 0.96%, Nestle down by 0.72%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.38% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways secretary Anurag Jain has said that around 85 per cent of road projects are likely to be completed by the end of this fiscal (FY24), as the steps taken by the government to ensure faster clearances like monitoring and quicker resolution of issues have started showing results. Jain said the Road ministry is getting environment and forest clearance quickly and monitoring mechanisms of delayed projects have been improved.

He stated ‘We took up completion of projects on time as a challenge, and in cases where the project is already delayed, a revised schedule was taken as the target. I have a feeling that by the end of this financial year (March), we will complete about 85 per cent of projects on time’. Further, he noted that ‘PRAGATI meeting by the Prime Minister, monitoring by Cabinet Secretariat, creation of Integrated Project Monitoring portal, use of PM GatiShakti in planning have considerably improved the pace of implementation of the projects during the whole life cycle of the projects.’

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) report, which monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above, the road transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects. He also said that the ministry of road transport and highways is in conversations with MoSPI to standardize the definition of 'delayed projects'. On the Road ministry's asset monetisation plan, Jain said state-owned National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) road monetisation pace has not slowed down and The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will also achieve its asset monetisation target.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19494.45, up by 58.35 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 19489.40 and 19547.65. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 1.35%, Titan Company up by 1.31%, Infosys up by 1.24%, BPCL up by 1.08% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.71%, NTPC down by 1.11%, Divi's Lab down by 1.10%, Coal India down by 1.06% and Cipla down by 0.71% were the top losers. 

Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 130.35 points or 0.75% to 17,326.19, Taiwan Weighted added 187.49 points or 1.15% to 16,460.87, Jakarta Composite gained 24.93 points or 0.36% to 6,911.51, Straits Times rose 24.38 points or 0.77% to 3,171.77, KOSPI increased 9.79 points or 0.41% to 2,415.48 and Nikkei 225 surged 471.45 points or 1.54% to 30,998.33.