Benchmarks continue record-breaking spree on Thursday

Indian equity benchmarks continued their record-breaking spree on Thursday, with Sensex breaching the historic 79,000 mark while Nifty scaling the historic 24,000 peak for the first time. Buying in blue-chip stocks like Ultratech Cement, NTPC and JSW Steel helped the markets extend gains for fourth consecutive day and closed at all-time highs. Markets made a cautious start amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 3,535.43 crore on June 26. However, markets gained momentum as the day progressed as traders took support with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) stating that India's economy is set to achieve significant growth, with projections nearing 7.5% for the current fiscal year (FY25). Some solace also came with CRISIL’s report stating that India’s current account surplus in the fourth quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal was aided by narrowing of the merchandise trade deficit, an increase in remittances and a surplus in services trade. The country’s current account recorded a surplus of $5.7 billion, which is 0.6 per cent of the GDP, in the fourth quarter of the last financial year.

Key gauges extended gains in final minutes of trade, taking support from report that president Droupadi Murmu during the joint session of the Parliament said that the BJP-led NDA government has given importance to all the three pillars of the economy -- Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services. She said that India is emerging as a leader in every sector from IT to tourism and from health to wellness. Traders took a note of the World Bank’s report stating that India received $120 billion in remittances in 2023, which is almost twice as $66 billion received by Mexico during the same period. It said remittances to India are forecast to grow at 3.7 per cent to $124 billion in 2024, and at 4 per cent to reach $129 billion in 2025. It noted that India’s efforts to link its Unified Payments Interface with source countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Singapore are expected to reduce costs and speed up remittances. 

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as investors braced for the first round of French parliamentary elections due over the weekend. Asian markets settled mostly down on Thursday amid much uncertainty about the interest-rate outlook, while traders braced for the release of key U.S. inflation reading, due later in the week for directional cues. Back home, there were some buzz in online gaming industry related stocks as the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has sent fresh summons to online gaming companies, including Delta Corp, seeking details of the cashback given to the players from October onwards.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 568.93 points or 0.72% to 79,243.18, and the CNX Nifty was up by 175.70 points or 0.74% points to 24,044.50.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 79,396.03 and 78,467.34 respectively. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.57%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.74%, IT up by 1.65%, TECK up by 1.59%, Utilities up by 1.29%, Telecom up by 1.18% while, Industrials down by 0.27%, Capital Goods down by 0.07%, Consumer Durables down by 0.06%, Realty down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 5.07%, NTPC up by 3.19%, JSW Steel up by 2.38%, Tata Motors up by 2.13% and Infosys up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.13%, Sun Pharma down by 0.42%, Nestle down by 0.20%, HDFC Bank down by 0.18% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, CRISIL in its latest report has said that India’s current account surplus in the fourth quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal was aided by narrowing of the merchandise trade deficit, an increase in remittances and a surplus in services trade. The country’s current account recorded a surplus of USD 5.7 billion, which is 0.6 per cent of the GDP, in the fourth quarter of the last financial year. It was in deficit of USD 8.7 billion, equivalent to one per cent of GDP, in the third quarter of the 2023-24 fiscal. In the corresponding fourth quarter of 2022-23, the country’s current account was also in deficit of USD 1.3 billion, which was 0.2 per cent of the GDP.

It highlighted ‘The improvement in current account balance to 0.6 per cent of GDP surplus in Q4 fiscal 2024, from a deficit of 0.2 per cent of GDP a year ago reflects improvement on all three fronts i.e. merchandise trade deficit narrowed, services trade surplus increased and remittances rose.’ Moreover it said financial flows also increased leading to accretion in foreign exchange reserves during the fourth quarter amounting to USD 30.8 billion. The country’s foreign reserves, as of June 14, 2024, stood at USD 652.9 billion. The report said even though the FDI inflows continued, there has also been a rise in outward FDI, leading to a reduction in net flows.

It stated healthy momentum in goods exports and expected moderation in imports suggest that the current account deficit (CAD) is likely to remain manageable this financial year (2024-25) as well. It added strong external buffers are crucial at this juncture because of global risks stemming from geopolitical uncertainties, tariff and trade wars have heightened.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,087.45 and 23,805.40. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 5.45%, LTIMindtree up by 3.58%, Grasim Industries up by 3.24%, NTPC up by 3.19% and Wipro up by 3.09%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.11%, Shriram Finance down by 0.97%, Eicher Motors down by 0.58%, Divi's Lab down by 0.49% and HDFC Bank down by 0.30% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.22 points or 0.23% to 8,206.11 and France’s CAC fell 36.76 points or 0.48% to 7,572.39, while Germany’s DAX gained 17.07 points or 0.09% to 18,172.31.