Positive trade continues over the Dalal Street

A positive trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, aided by firm cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Realty, Consumer Durables and Capital Goods counters. Sentiments remained optimistic, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data report on ‘Overseas Direct Investment’ has showed that the country's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) commitments increased 1.04% at $2009.51 million in May 2024 as compared to $1988.8 million in May 2023. These OFDI commitments were $2782.61 million in the month of April 2024. According to the report, the equity commitments rose 6.51% to $1028.76 million in May 2024 from $965.86 million a year ago.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, after sentiment among Japanese large manufacturers improved in the second quarter, though it still remained in negative territory. The, quarterly survey results from the Ministry of Finance showed that the business survey index of large manufacturers rose to -1.0 in the second quarter from -6.7 in the preceding period. The expected reading was -5.2. Meanwhile, the BSI of non-manufacturing companies declined to 1.1 from 3.2. As a result, the BSI of overall industries strengthened to 0.4 from 0.0 in the first quarter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76831.13, up by 224.56 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 76719.70 and 77145.46. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.05%, Consumer Durables up by 1.43%, Capital Goods up by 1.18%, IT up by 0.94% and Industrials up by 0.92%, while Utilities down by 0.42%, Telecom down by 0.31%, FMCG down by 0.29%, Metal down by 0.15% and PSU down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.94%, Titan up by 1.75%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.29%, Wipro up by 1.15% and Nestle up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.35%, Power Grid down by 0.72%, NTPC down by 0.69%, ICICI Bank down by 0.50% and Tata Steel down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the cargo volumes in India are likely to grow 6-8 per cent in the current fiscal year (FY25) on account of healthy growth in the container and coal segments. ICRA forecasts increased spending on transportation infrastructure projects, including on roads, ports and airports over the coming years, benefiting from solid government support, rising capital outlays and a large pipeline of projects. 

The report said the government has planned a large capex under its 'Maritime India Vision 2030' to augment port capacity and infrastructure over the next decade. This could bring about supply-demand mismatches in a few clusters, resulting in increased competition and pricing pressure for ports. It expects India's government to maintain a strong focus on road sector investments through increasing capital outlays. 

According to the report, road execution in India is likely to grow 5-8 per cent to 12,500-13,000 km in the current fiscal, after recording a robust expansion of 20 per cent in 2023-24. It added that the pace of execution in this fiscal will be supported by a healthy pipeline of projects, increased capital outlay by the government and focus on completion of projects by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Besides, it said capex investments in the airport infrastructure will also remain healthy at around Rs 55,000 - 60,000 crore of committed capex over the next 3-4 years, including new greenfield airports, brownfield expansions and expansion of airports under the Airports Authority of India (AAI). 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23397.75, up by 74.80 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 23353.90 and 23481.05. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 3.45%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.89%, Shriram Finance up by 2.82%, Titan up by 1.84% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.44%, Eicher Motors down by 1.37%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.33%, Britannia down by 0.72% and Power Grid down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 127.31 points or 0.71% to 18,065.15, Jakarta Composite gained 17.58 points or 0.26% to 6,867.68, Straits Times rose 18.13 points or 0.55% to 3,325.57, KOSPI increased 26.72 points or 0.97% to 2,754.89 and Taiwan Weighted added 263.08 points or 1.18% to 22,312.04, while Shanghai Composite weakened 8.55 points or 0.28% to 3,028.92 and Nikkei 225 slipped 156.24 points or 0.4% to 38,720.47.