Benchmarks add gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks added gains in morning deals, ahead of presentation of interim Budget in Parliament. The domestic indices were up led by gains in Power, Utilities and Auto stocks. Sentiments got boost as India’s final manufacturing PMI showed that manufacturing activity accelerated in January. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) recovered from an 18-month low of 54.9 in December to 56.5 in January. Traders took support with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,660.72 crore on January 31. Some optimism also come as Goods and services tax (GST) collections hit the second highest monthly figure ever at over Rs 1.72 trillion in January, growing by 10.4 per cent over Rs 1.56 trillion from the same month in the previous year. These GST figures were till 5 pm of January 31, and final collection for the month would be higher. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, tracking a sell-off on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve poured cold water on hopes for a March interest rate cut.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72013.31, up by 261.20 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 71618.36 and 72034.00. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.27%, while Small cap index was down by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.73%, Utilities up by 1.64%, Auto up by 1.44%, PSU up by 0.86% and FMCG up by 0.82%, while Telecom down by 0.84%, Realty down by 0.74%, Healthcare down by 0.49%, Basic Materials down by 0.44% and Metal down by 0.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.51%, Power Grid Corporaion up by 3.30%, NTPC up by 2.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.58% and TCS up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.00%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.00%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.94%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.90% and JSW Steel down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the labour ministry has said that retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 4.91 per cent in December 2023 from 4.98 per cent in November 2023, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. It stated food inflation stood at 8.18 per cent (in December 2023) against 7.95 per cent of the previous month (November 2023) and 4.10 per cent during the corresponding month (of December 2022) a year ago. 

It stated the year-on-year inflation for the month (December 2023) stood at 4.91 per cent compared to 4.98 per cent in the previous month (November 2023) and 5.50 per cent (December 2022) in the year-ago period. The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for December 2023 decreased by 0.3 points and stood at 138.8 points. It was 139.1 in November last year.

On one-month percentage change, it decreased by 0.22 per cent with respect to the previous month compared to a contraction of 0.15 per cent a year ago. The maximum downward pressure in the current index came from the Food & Beverages group, contributing 0.45 percentage points to the total change. At the item level, Rice, Poultry/Chicken, Mustard Oil, Apple, Banana, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Capsicum, Carrot, French Beans, Green Coriander Leaves, Ginger, Onion, Potato, Tomato, Peas, Radish, Electricity Charges (Domestic), etc. are responsible for the fall in the index.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21786.25, up by 60.55 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 21694.60 and 21798.00. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.55%, Power Grid Corporation up by 3.28%, NTPC up by 2.39%, Eicher Motors up by 2.34% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.36%, LTIMindtree down by 1.92%, Grasim Industries down by 1.68%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.02% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; KOSPI increased 36.09 points or 1.45% to 2,533.18, Jakarta Composite gained 19.83 points or 0.27% to 7,227.77, Shanghai Composite strengthened 3.52 points or 0.13% to 2,792.07 and Hang Seng advanced 185.84 points or 1.2% to 15,670.91. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 280.96 points or 0.77% to 36,005.75, Taiwan Weighted lost 3.6 points or 0.02% to 17,885.96 and Straits Times fell 7.64 points or 0.24% to 3,145.37.