Markets gain traction after flat opening on value buying

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Friday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as well as firm Asian cues as positive U.S. GDP and PCE data helped ease concerns around inflation and interest rates. Thought, trading activity remained somewhat subdued ahead of the long Christmas weekend. Soon, markets gained traction and are trading higher with decent gains of around 0.30% each in early deals on account of value buying in all the sector indices led by metal stocks. Overnight fall in crude oil prices lend some support to markets. Adding more optimism, Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal said India’s agriculture exports this fiscal are expected to reach the last year’s level of $53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. 

However, upside remained limited amid foreign fund outflows. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,636.19 crore on December 21. On the sectoral front, textile industry stocks will be in limelight as the Cotton Association of India (CAI) estimated that cotton production may decline by around 8 per cent to 294.10 lakh bales in the 2023-24 season due to lower yields in most growing regions. In stock specific development, LIC rallied after the government approved a 10 year extension for the company to meet the 25 per cent minimum public shareholding norms.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71053.61, up by 188.51 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 70758.34 and 71073.05. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 1.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.86%, Realty up by 1.74%, Telecom up by 1.52%, Healthcare up by 1.29% and Basic Materials up by 1.02%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.44%, Tata Motors up by 2.19%, NTPC up by 1.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.10% and Sun Pharma up by 1.02%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.56%, Infosys down by 0.26%, TCS down by 0.17%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.12% and Asian Paints down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s agriculture exports, Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal has said that the country’s exports of agriculture this fiscal are expected to reach the last year’s level of $53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. In 2022-23, the country’s agri exports stood at $53 billion.

He said ‘We expect that we would reach that level in spite of $4.5 billion-$5 billion impact due to the restrictions’. The government has prohibited exports of wheat and non-basmati white rice and has imposed curbs on sugar exports. He said the government is promoting exports of new products like bananas and value-added millet products to new global destinations.

He added ‘In the next three years, we are hoping to increase banana exports to $1 billion’. Exports of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products registered a healthy growth rate during April-November. Rice exports, however, declined 7.65 per cent to $6.5 billion during the same period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21332.30, up by 77.25 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 21248.15 and 21340.70. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 2.46%, Tata Steel up by 2.40%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.25%, Divi's Lab up by 2.24% and Hindalco up by 2.18%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.58%, Grasim Industries down by 0.35%, Infosys down by 0.32%, Asian Paints down by 0.11% and TCS down by 0.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 60.51 points or 0.18% to 33,200.98, Taiwan Weighted increased 31.12 points or 0.18% to 17,574.86, Straits Times rose 28.26 points or 0.9% to 3,140.76, Jakarta Composite gained 26.74 points or 0.37% to 7,236.36, Shanghai Composite added 14.54 points or 0.5% to 2,933.25 and KOSPI was up by 9.75 points or 0.37% to 2,609.77, while Hang Seng was down by 47.6 points or 0.29% to 16,573.53.