Bulls roar over Dalal Street

Bulls were roaring over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding strong gains, aided by strength in IT stocks such as TCS, Tech Mahindra and Infosys amid hopes that the Fed may be done hiking interest rates. Sentiments remained optimistic, amid reports that the government is considering several measures such as a flexible framework for sale of products manufactured in special economic zones (SEZs) in the domestic market, easy de-notification norms, and streamlining approval processes for units. Besides, the Union government slashed windfall tax on crude petroleum to Rs 6,300 per tonne from Rs 9,800. The special additional excise duty (SAED) on diesel was also halved to rupee 1 from Rs 2 per litre.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 662.5 billion yen in October. That beat forecasts for a shortfall of 735.7 billion yen following the upwardly revised 72.1 billion yen surplus in September (originally 62.4 billion yen). Exports rose 1.6 percent on year to 9.147 trillion yen - beating forecasts for an increase of 1.2 percent but slowing from the 4.3 percent gain in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66123.55, up by 447.62 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 65507.02 and 66153.90. 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 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.43%, TECK up by 2.10%, Telecom up by 1.02%, Oil & Gas up by 0.85% and Healthcare up by 0.75%, while Metal down by 0.03% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.44%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.71%, Infosys up by 2.23%, HCL Tech. up by 2.14% and Wipro up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.31%, Axis Bank down by 0.47%, JSW Steel down by 0.14%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.10% and Nestle down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has said that India's imports from Russia rose 64 per cent to $36.27 billion during the AprilOctober period of FY24 on higher shipments of crude oil and fertiliser. With this, Russia has become India's secondlargest import source during the first seven months of this fiscal. The imports were $22.13 billion during AprilOctober 2022. From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the RussiaUkraine conflict, Russia's share of India's oil imports rose to over 40 per cent. India, the world's thirdlargest crude importer after China and the United States, has been buying Russian oil after some countries in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for invading Ukraine.

The ministry's data showed that imports from China dipped marginally to $60.02 billion during the period against $60.26 billion in the yearago period. Similarly, imports from the US declined 16 per cent to $24.89 billion during the period under review from $29.56 billion last year. Imports from the UAE contracted 21 per cent to $24.91 billion during the period under review. During the first seven months of this fiscal, imports also dipped from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Indonesia, Singapore, and Korea. Among all the top 10 import source nations of India, imports from Switzerland increased to $13.97 billion as against $10.48 billion in AprilOctober 2022 due to gold imports.

On the export front, India's exports to six of its top10 destinations have recorded a negative growth rate during the period. During the first seven months of this fiscal, the country's merchandise exports to the US, the UAE, Singapore, Germany, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia have declined. However, exports to the UK, Australia and the Netherlands have recorded positive growth. The outbound shipments to China rose to $8.92 billion during the period under review from $8.85 billion in AprilOctober 2022. India's overall merchandise exports rose by 6.21 per cent to $33.57 billion in October this year even as trade deficit ballooned to $31.46 billion during the month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19804.85, up by 129.40 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 19627.00 and 19811.10. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 3.35%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.87%, Infosys up by 2.32%, HCL Tech. up by 2.00% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.26%, Coal India down by 0.81%, Hindalco down by 0.62%, UPL down by 0.44% and Axis Bank down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 199.48 points or 1.12% to 17,879.52, Jakarta Composite plunged 15.84 points or 0.23% to 6,942.37, Shanghai Composite weakened 18.17 points or 0.59% to 3,054.66, KOSPI dropped 0.45 points or 0.02% to 2,486.22 and Nikkei 225 slipped 95.29 points or 0.29% to 33,424.41, while Taiwan Weighted added 42.4 points or 0.25% to 17,171.18 and Straits Times rose 1.83 points or 0.06% to 3,133.95.