Markets trade firm on broad-based buying amid strong global cues

Indian equity benchmarks started the fresh week on optimistic note amid buying in all sectoral indices. Positive global cues also aided the domestic sentiments with all the Asian markets trading in green as weaker-than-expected U.S. payrolls data furthered expectations that the Federal Reserve was done with its rate hike cycle, while focus also turned to upcoming economic readings from China. Sensex and Nifty are trading firm in early deals with gains of over half a percent each on Monday on account of broad-based buying. Sentiments got a boost as a survey by prominent economic think-tank NCAER showed an all-round improvement in business sentiments in the second quarter of the current fiscal. The Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose from 128 in the first quarter of the current fiscal to 140.7 in the second. 

Some support also came in as the Reserve Bank of India said India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $2.579 billion to $586.111 billion in the week ended on October 27. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $2.363 billion to $583.532 billion. On the sectoral front, textile industry stocks are in focus as Apparel Export Promotion Council of India (AEPC) said that apparel exports are expected to reach $40 billion by 2030 on account of initiatives such as exploring new destinations and fostering strategic partnerships. In stock specific development, Godrej Agrovet traded higher after the company reported good Q2 numbers. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64717.93, up by 354.15 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 64624.79 and 64835.23. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.66%, Capital Goods up by 1.03%, Industrials up by 0.95%, Utilities up by 0.88%, Energy up by 0.88%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.52%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.27%, Nestle up by 1.04%, ICICI Bank up by 0.96% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.75%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.29% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.07% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Economic think-tank - the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its latest survey has showed an all-round improvement in business sentiments in the second quarter of the current fiscal (Q2FY24). The Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose to 140.7 in the second quarter from 128 in the first quarter of the current fiscal. The BCI was also higher than 132.5 in the year-ago period. 

The NCAER-NSE BCI was driven by four components -- overall economic conditions will improve in the next six months, financial position of firms will improve in the next six months, present investment climate is positive, and present capacity utilisation is close to or above the optimal level. The 126th Round of NCAER Business Expectations Survey (BES) in September 2023 showed that the share of positive responses was higher for all four components of the BCI in 2023-24:Q2 compared to 2023-24:Q1, with support from the NSE. The survey is based on responses from 500 companies. 

The survey said ‘Business sentiments were relatively more buoyant about domestic markets than external markets. The share of firms expecting production, domestic sales and pre-tax profits to increase was more in the second quarter of 2023-24 compared to the first’. In contrast, a lower percentage of firms expected exports of their products and imports of raw materials to increase in the September quarter compared to the April-June period. Regarding expectations about future price trends, sentiments were muted for prices of inputs and outputs with a lower percentage of firms expecting prices to rise in the second quarter compared to the first.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19332.70, up by 102.10 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 19309.70 and 19357.35. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 2.39%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.67%, Axis Bank up by 1.48%, Coal India up by 1.44% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.12%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.36%, UPL down by 0.18%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.12%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.05% and ONGC down by 0.03% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 781.98 points or 2.39% to 32,731.87, Hang Seng jumped 290.68 points or 1.62% to 17,954.80, Taiwan Weighted rose 182.48 points or 1.09% to 16,690.13, KOSPI increased 96.26 points or 3.91% to 2,464.60, Jakarta Composite gained 70.54 points or 1.03% to 6,859.39, Shanghai Composite added 26.70 points or 0.87% to 3,057.50 and Straits Times was up by 13.53 points or 0.43% to 3,157.19.