Sensex, Nifty off day’s high in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks came off day’s high points in early afternoon deals but still holding notable gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Power and PSU counters. Sentiments were upbeat, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that ‘India is the pilot that will take the global flight to new heights in the next five years, which would be years of unprecedented growth and prosperity. That is Modi’s guarantee.’ Modi added that the government is preparing a roadmap for the next 25 years, and drawing up plans for the first 100 days of the BJP’s third term in power.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in March, albeit at a slower pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.2. That's up from 47.2 in February, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Both output and new orders were scaled back at slower rates in the latest survey period, with the latter reducing at the softest rate since last October. Sustained declines in new orders and a renewed rise in employment levels meant for spare capacity in the sector.

Back home, the minerals and mining sector stocks were in watch, as the Indian Bureau of Mines in its latest data has showed that the index of mineral production of the country's mining and quarrying sector rose by 5.9 per cent in January 2024 as compared to the level in January 2023. The cumulative growth for the period April-Jan 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year works out to 8.3 per cent.  
 
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72614.58, up by 512.89 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 72416.03 and 72882.46. 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 1.74%, while Small cap index was up by 1.87%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 2.59%, PSU up by 2.59%, Industrials up by 2.45%, Capital Goods up by 2.43% and Utilities up by 2.32%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.60%, Tata Steel up by 2.78%, Indusind Bank up by 2.70%, Power Grid up by 2.63% and Tata Motors up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.68%, Nestle down by 0.58%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.46%, Infosys down by 0.37% and TCS down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Indian Bureau of Mines in its latest data has showed that the index of mineral production of the country's mining and quarrying sector rose by 5.9 per cent in January 2024 as compared to the level in January 2023. The cumulative growth for the period April-Jan 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year works out to 8.3 per cent.  

The production level of important minerals in January 2024 were: Coal 998 lakh tonne, Lignite 41 lakh tonne, Natural gas (utilised) 3073 million cubic meters, Petroleum (crude) 25 lakh tonne, Bauxite 2426 thousand tonne, Chromite 251 thousand tonne, Copper Concentrate 12.6 thousand tonnes, Gold 134 kg, Iron ore 252 lakh tonne, Lead Concentrate 34 thousand tonnes, Manganese ore 304 thousand tonnes, Zinc concentrate 152 thousand tonne, Limestone 394 lakh tonne, Phosphorite 109 thousand tonne, and Magnesite 13 thousand tonne.   

Important minerals showing positive growth during January 2024 over January 2023 include Magnesite (90.1per cent), Copper Concentrate (34.2 per cent), Coal (10.3 per cent), Limestone (10 per cent), Bauxite (9.8 per cent), Manganese Ore (7.8 per cent), Natural gas (U) (5.5 per cent), Lead Concentrate (5.2 per cent), Iron Ore (4.3 per cent), Lignite (3.6 per cent), Zinc concentrate (1.3 per cent), and Petroleum (crude) (0.7 per cent). Other important minerals showing negative growth include Gold (-23.4 per cent), Chromite (-35.2 per cent) and Phosphorite (-44.4 per cent).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21998.95, up by 159.85 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 21941.30 and 22080.95. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.63%, BPCL up by 3.08%, Tata Steel up by 2.88%, Indusind Bank up by 2.68% and Power Grid up by 2.68%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.96%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.64%, Nestle down by 0.64%, UPL down by 0.44% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 378.33 points or 2.24% to 16,921.40, Taiwan Weighted added 414.64 points or 2.05% to 20,199.09, Jakarta Composite gained 43.81 points or 0.59% to 7,374.94, Straits Times rose 48.65 points or 1.51% to 3,226.13, KOSPI increased 64.72 points or 2.35% to 2,754.86 and Nikkei 225 surged 812.06 points or 1.99% to 40,815.66, while Shanghai Composite weakened 1.85 points or 0.06% to 3,077.84.