Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in fine fettle

Indian markets continued to trade in fine fettle in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty sustaining their strong gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Utilities and Power stocks. The street paid no heed towards a private report stating that unemployment rates continue to remain high among people qualified with diploma or degree, though some progress has been made in the last five years. It said there's a notable gap between job opportunities and those seeking jobs, which might take time to narrow.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Japan's tertiary activity index declined slightly in August after rebounding strongly in the previous month. According to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, the seasonally adjusted tertiary activity index dropped 0.1 percent month-on-month in August, reversing a revised 1.1 percent rise in July. Among the individual components, transport and postal activities, real estate, finance and insurance, information and communications, and goods rental and leasing decreased in August.

Back home, steel sector stocks in watch, as the World Steel Association (worldsteel) said that the demand for steel in India is expected to register a 'healthy growth' of 8.6 per cent against the overall global rise of 1.8 per cent in 2023. It forecasts that global steel demand will grow 1.8 per cent in 2023 and reach 1,814.5 MT after having contracted by 3.3 per cent in 2022. In 2024, the demand will see an increase of 1.9 per cent to 1,849.1 MT.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66526.60, up by 359.67 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 66426.11 and 66559.82. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.58%, Power up by 1.36%, Telecom up by 1.25%, PSU up by 1.02% and Oil & Gas up by 0.80%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.73%, NTPC up by 1.42%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.37%, ITC up by 1.11% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.87%, Tata Motors down by 0.53%, Asian Paints down by 0.21%, TCS down by 0.15% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh has said that the government will bring out another production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for batteries to bring down cost and boost the adoption of electric vehicles in India. He was of the view that the price of storage will come down with higher volumes. 

The minister pointed towards limited battery manufacturing capacity in the world and termed it as a reason for high prices. He opined that higher cost and lower driving range are issues in adopting EVs. He said the central government had approved the PLI scheme for manufacturing advanced chemistry cell (ACC) batteries at an estimated outlay of Rs 18,100 crore in May 2021, with an objective to attract foreign and domestic investment of Rs 45,000 crore. The scheme was aimed to achieve manufacturing of 50GW of battery storage. 

Singh further said the ACCs are the new generation of advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required. He pointed out that transition to EVs will reduce emissions in India. He stated that 80 per cent of lithium resources are tied up by one country and 88 per cent of processing of lithium is also in one country. He said ‘we are lucky that we have some lithium reserves in Jammu.’ He suggested the need to shift away from lithium to other chemistry (of batteries).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19843.10, up by 111.35 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 19809.75 and 19849.75. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.73%, BPCL up by 2.28%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.14%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.01% and Tata Consumer Products up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.80%, UPL down by 0.65%, Tata Motors down by 0.65%, Grasim Industries down by 0.46% and Asian Paints down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 131.49 points or 0.74% to 17,771.85, Jakarta Composite gained 18.61 points or 0.27% to 6,914.90, Straits Times rose 6.88 points or 0.22% to 3,170.77, Shanghai Composite strengthened 9.22 points or 0.3% to 3,083.03, KOSPI increased 23.93 points or 0.97% to 2,460.17 and Nikkei 225 surged 381.26 points or 1.19% to 32,040.29, while Taiwan Weighted lost 9.69 points or 0.06% to 16,642.55.