Markets hover near day’s high levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets hovered near day’s high levels in late afternoon session led by gains in banking and IT sectors' stock. Traders continued to take support as Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said that net direct tax collection grew 21 per cent to Rs 4.62 lakh crore during April 1 to June 17, 2024 period, on higher advance tax mop-up. India shipped 17,81,602 MT of seafood worth Rs 60,523.89 crore (US$7.38 billion) during 2023-24. Fertilizer stocks were in focus as there is a proposal to remove GST on fertilizers. The first GST Council meeting of Modi Government 3.0 is scheduled to be held on June 22 and therein a decision may be taken to remove fertilizers from within the ambit of GST. This is as the Fitment Committee has proposed to exempt fertilizers from GST. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data reinforced bets of imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts. European markets were trading lower after several Federal Reserve officials urged patience on interest-rate cuts.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77566.01, up by 264.87 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 76954.87 and 77623.70. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.64%, while Small cap index was down by 0.27%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.46% and IT was up by 0.28%, while Realty down by 2.91%, Consumer Durables down by 2.05%, Capital Goods down by 1.71%, Power down by 1.68% and Oil & Gas was down by 1.63% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.29%, HDFC Bank up by 3.20%, ICICI Bank up by 2.96%, Indusind Bank up by 2.51% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.13%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.03%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.96% and NTPC down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has released the 17th instalment of about Rs 20,000 crore under PM-KISAN scheme and distributed certificates to over 30,000 self-help groups known as Krishi Sakhis. After depositing Rs 20,000 crore in the accounts of about 9.25 crore farmers, a total of about Rs 3,25,000 crore has been deposited in the accounts of farmers so far.

PM-KISAN scheme was launched on February 24, 2019 to supplement the financial needs of all land-holding farmers subject to certain exclusion criteria of higher income status. Financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments, every four months, is transferred into the bank accounts of farmers’ families across the country through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. 

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and the farmer is its soul. He added that continuous work has been done on the roadmap to double the income of farmers. For this, on one hand, efforts are being made to increase production by using new technology through irrigation schemes, while on the other hand, to reduce the cost of production, the government gives subsidy of billions of rupees, due to which the farmer gets cheap fertilizers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23584.35, up by 26.45 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 23412.90 and 23630.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 3.30%, Axis Bank up by 3.19%, ICICI Bank up by 3.01%, Indusind Bank up by 2.47% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.23%, Hindalco down by 2.33%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.09%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02% and BPCL down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 514.84 points or 2.79% to 18,430.39, Taiwan Weighted added 452.11 points or 1.95% to 23,209.54, Nikkei 225 surged 88.65 points or 0.23% to 38,570.76, KOSPI increased 33.41 points or 1.19% to 2,797.33 and Straits Times was up by 7.42 points or 0.22% to 3,309.20. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 12.2 points or 0.4% to 3,018.05 and Jakarta Composite was down by 19.91 points or 0.3% to 6,714.92.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.3 points or 0.24% to 8,171.99, France’s CAC fell 40.46 points or 0.53% to 7,588.34 and Germany’s DAX was down by 65.66 points or 0.36% to 18,066.31.