Benchmarks continue to trade higher in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in late morning deals, amid continuous foreign fund inflows along with buying in heavyweights Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro and Tech Mahindra. Sentiments remained up-beat with rating agency ICRA’s report stating that the credit metrics of India Inc. are likely to show slight sequential improvement in Q3 FY2024, with interest coverage increasing to 4.5-5.0 times in Q3 FY2024 from 4.5 times in Q2 FY2024. The credit metrics would result from improved earnings of Corporate India, on the back of continuing, albeit moderating tailwinds from commodity prices and seasonally strong demand during the recently concluded festive season. Some support also came as Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) India stated that Indian engineering exports to 18 key markets recorded positive growth in October, 2023.  Countries which registered positive growth in exports during October include the UK, US and UAE among others. However, it said that China, Italy, Singapore and Indonesia were among the countries that saw a decline in engineering shipments during the month. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as traders remained reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66566.10, up by 391.90 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 66374.52 and 66597.96. 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 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.05%, IT up by 1.04%, TECK up by 0.94%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94% and Utilities up by 0.75%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.75%, Wipro up by 2.12%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.83%, HCL Technologies up by 1.28% and Axis Bank up by 1.23%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.35% and Titan Company down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) India has said Indian engineering exports to 18 key markets recorded positive growth in October, 2023.  Countries which registered positive growth in exports during October include the UK, US and UAE among others. However, it said that China, Italy, Singapore and Indonesia were among the countries that saw a decline in engineering shipments during the month.

It highlighted, on the whole, engineering exports from India during October increased to $8,094.20 million, registering a rise of 7.2 per cent from $7,550.69 million year-on-year. Cumulative engineering exports from April to October 2023 were down 1.61 per cent at $61.63 billion from $62.63 billion in the previous similar period.

Further, it stated engineering exports to the US was $1391.5 million, up 2.2 per cent year-on-year against $1361 million. For Germany, exports in October was higher by 20 per cent at $342.7 million. Engineering exports to UAE increased 2.9 per cent year-on-year at $348.6 million. Besides, EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said that the metal sector, specifically iron and steel, aluminium and zinc products saw a decline in exports in October this year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20004.40, up by 114.70 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 19956.30 and 20016.90. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.74%, Wipro up by 2.27%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.21%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.89% and HCL Technologies up by 1.28%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 0.60%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.43%, Coal India down by 0.42%, NTPC down by 0.33% and ONGC down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 97.21 points or 0.29% to 33,311.18, Hang Seng declined 378.9 points or 2.18% to 16,975.24, KOSPI dropped 4.06 points or 0.16% to 2,517.70, Jakarta Composite plunged 2.43 points or 0.03% to 7,038.64 and Shanghai Composite weakened 14.81 points or 0.49% to 3,023.74.

On the global front, Taiwan Weighted added 35.47 points or 0.2% to 17,376.72 and Straits Times rose 15.16 points or 0.49% to 3,081.10.