Markets trade in green in early deals

Indian equity markets have made positive start and are trading in green in early deals on Tuesday amid firm cues from other Asian markets. Buying in Infosys, Tata Motors, TCS and Wipro companies' stocks supported the markets to trade higher. Meanwhile, broader indices are also trading in green with BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index gaining in the range of 0.15-0.40%. Traders got some support with report that pointing out the sustained growth of the Indian economy over the past decade, European Parliament think tank expert, Angelos Delivorias said that India's GDP growth exceeding that of China reflects New Delhi's emergence as a formidable economic powerhouse in the global arena. Delivorias stated ‘India has surpassed the growth rate of China, and experts think that it will continue doing so, at least in the short term.’ Traders took a note of private report that India's consumer price inflation likely eased to a five-month low of 4.91% in March but was still above the Reserve Bank of India's 4% medium-term target as food price rises persist.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green despite U.S. bond yields spiked ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data, the release of FOMC minutes and the ECB monetary policy meeting later in the week. The US markets ended mostly in red on Monday as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched inflation data later in the week. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Realty, IT, TECK, Auto and Consumer Disc, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Energy and PSU.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74881.15, up by 138.65 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 74792.77 and 75124.28. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.67%, IT up by 1.09%, TECK up by 0.88%, Auto up by 0.38% and Consumer Disc up by 0.37%, while FMCG down by 0.24%, Oil & Gas down by 0.20%, Capital Goods down by 0.18%, Energy down by 0.16% and PSU down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.80%, Tata Motors up by 1.09%, Wipro up by 0.92%, TCS up by 0.74% and HCL up by 0.73%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 0.54%, Reliance Industries down by 0.47%, Titan down by 0.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.33% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Monetary Policy Report April 2024 has said frequent weather shocks caused by climate change pose challenges for the monetary policy as well as downside risks to economic growth. It said global average temperatures are on a rise, with accompanying increase in extreme weather events (EWE), and the economic and social impact of global warming is becoming increasingly evident.

It stated that climate change has increased the frequency and ferocity of weather shocks, posing challenges for monetary policy. It said there are different channels through which climate change can affect monetary policy. Climate change directly impacts inflation through adverse weather events affecting agricultural production and global supply chains, climate change could impact the natural rate of interest, and the after-effects of climate change might weaken the transmission of monetary policy actions to financing conditions faced by households and firms.

The report said ‘For these reasons, central banks are increasingly incorporating climate risks explicitly into their modelling frameworks.’ In the absence of any climate mitigation policies, the long-term output will be lower by around 9 per cent by 2050 vis--vis a no climate change scenario with full pass-through of the physical risks of climate change to the economy. It mentioned lower productivity may lead to a fall in the natural rate of interest. Frequent shocks to inflation will, however, necessitate tighter monetary policy even with a lower natural rate of interest. Besides, it stressed that frequent weather-related disturbances due to climate change pose downside risks to the baseline growth path.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22705.35, up by 39.05 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 22675.25 and 22765.30. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 1.87%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.59%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.06%, Tata Motors up by 1.03% and LTIMindtree up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.09%, ONGC down by 0.54%, BPCL down by 0.53%, Reliance Industries down by 0.47% and Titan down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 97.7 points or 0.58% to 16,830.55, Nikkei 225 surged 261.78 points or 0.67% to 39,608.82, Taiwan Weighted added 353.48 points or 1.73% to 20,771.18 and Straits Times rose 25.61 points or 0.8% to 3,241.60. However, KOSPI dropped 5.71 points or 0.21% to 2,711.94 and Shanghai Composite weakened 4.68 points or 0.15% to 3,042.37.