Domestic indices trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Wednesday amid fall in crude oil prices overnight as talks for a ceasefire in Gaza continued. But, markets trimmed opening gains and turned volatile ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation readings and the minutes of Fed's March policy meeting. Soon, domestic indices managed to regain their momentum to trade higher with gains of around 0.35% each in early deals on account of healthy buying at metal and oil & gas counters. Some support came in with a private report that India is expected to see a normal monsoon in 2024, promising some respite after a prediction of more-than-normal heat wave days in the summer preceding the June-September rainy season. Monsoon rains are expected to be 102% of the long-period average of 868.6 mm for the four-month period.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed in a holiday thin trade on Wednesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of closely watched key US inflation data, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates. Also, the Bank of Japan said producer prices in Japan were up 0.2 percent on month in March. Market in South Korea is closed for Election Day, while Singapore and Indonesia markets also are shuttered for Eid-ul-Fitr. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74949.05, up by 265.35 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 74810.85 and 74983.34. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.71%, Oil & Gas up by 1.48%, Energy up by 1.46%, PSU up by 1.04% and Realty up by 0.78%, while Healthcare down by 0.19%, Telecom down by 0.11% and IT down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.44%, Reliance Industries up by 1.23%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.20% and Axis Bank up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.91%, HDFC Bank down by 0.44%, TCS down by 0.43%, Wipro down by 0.28% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India and the United States (US) partnership, the US National Security Advisor (NSA) - Jake Sullivan said that the partnership has reached a new height with collaboration on technology and security and so many other dimensions. He said ‘I think if you look at the US role and standing in its relationships across the key regions of the world, we feel very good about where we are’.

He also said ‘If you look at what's happened with NATO, we've made NATO larger than ever, if you look at what's just happening this week, a historic trilateral with the US, Japan, and the Philippines. If you look across the Indo-Pacific at how we've upgraded our relations not just with traditional allies, but with the likes of Vietnam, Indonesia, ASEAN as a whole’. 

He further said ‘... he's hosted all of the leaders of the Pacific Islands, that he's hosted all of the leaders of Africa at a summit in the United States, that the United States has increased its investments in the infrastructure, physical, digital, energy infrastructure in the Americas, in Africa and Southeast Asia and beyond’. He said the US has expressed its concerns to China about inputs to Russia’s industrial base.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22720.10, up by 77.35 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 22678.70 and 22727.25. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.08%, Coal India up by 1.73%, Tata Steel up by 1.54%, Hindalco up by 1.50% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 2.15%, Sun Pharma down by 0.82%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.63%, Cipla down by 0.57% and Shriram Finance down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng surged 309.55 points or 1.81% to 17,137.62 and Taiwan Weighted added 14.62 points or 0.07% to 20,810.82. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slipped 131.43 points or 0.33% to 39,641.70 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.29 points or 0.34% to 3,038.25.