Domestic indices trade higher with decent gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Monday amid mixed global cues. Soon, markets gained traction and are trading higher with decent gains in early deals ahead of the India manufacturing PMI data to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Traders took encouragement as the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that a fiscal surplus of Rs 1.6 trillion in May due to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) record dividend transfer narrowed the Centre’s fiscal deficit for the first two months of 2024-25 to Rs 0.5 trillion or 3 per cent of the full-year estimate. Some support also came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said healthy increase in the country's exports, improvement in the current account deficit (CAD) and focus on expanding manufacturing will help the Indian economy register a healthy growth rate. However, upside remained capped as government data showed growth of the eight core sectors in India slowed to 6.3 per cent on an annual basis in May, mildly down from 6.7 per cent registered in April. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders reacted to mostly upbeat manufacturing sector data from several markets in the region as well as upbeat domestic business sentiment readings from Japan. Data showing slowdowns in the annual rates of US consumer price growth also led to optimism about the outlook for interest rates. Also, large manufacturing in Japan strengthened in the second quarter of 2024, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan Survey of business sentiment showed on Monday with a diffusion index score of +13. Hong Kong market is closed for Special Administrative Region Establishment Day.

Back home, India has initiated an anti-dumping probe into the import of glass fibre from China, Thailand, Bahrain following a complaint by a domestic player. The duty is aimed at protecting the domestic industry from cheap imports. In stock specific development, Orchid Pharma rallied as it partnered with Cipla for pan-India distribution of antibiotic Cefepime-Enmetazobactam. Auto stocks are in focus as traders are reacting to the monthly auto sales figures.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79213.98, up by 181.25 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 78971.79 and 79272.92. 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 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 1.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.95%, Basic Materials up by 0.87%, Telecom up by 0.85%, Metal up by 0.83% and IT up by 0.72%, while Utilities down by 0.62%, Power down by 0.46%, Realty down by 0.23%, PSU down by 0.16% and Oil & Gas down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 1.52%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.09%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.08%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.93% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.88%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.09%, Power Grid down by 1.01%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.80%, Sun Pharma down by 0.73% and SBI down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that healthy increase in the country's exports, improvement in the current account deficit (CAD) and focus on expanding manufacturing will help the Indian economy register a healthy growth rate. He expressed confidence that the country's goods and services exports would cross $800 billion this fiscal. It was $778 billion in 2023-24 and $776 billion in 2022-23.

He said that the mood amongst industry and exporters is 'wonderful' and a 'very great' sense of confidence is there among the investors about the India growth story. He noted ‘I think this year we will end with over $800 billion exports...We also focus a lot on expanding our manufacturing capacities, so that our import dependencies can come down and CAD is also showing healthy improvement in the last few months. We are very confident that the Indian economy is poised for both healthy and organised growth and providing opportunities to lakhs of people across India’.

About bringing an amendment bill on special economic zones (SEZs), the minister said that several suggestions are on the table and are under consideration. India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country's external strength has turned into surplus mode. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24075.55, up by 64.95 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 23992.70 and 24083.80. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 1.49%, Grasim Industries up by 1.34%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.26%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.25% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.11%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.01%, Power Grid down by 1.00%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.85%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.79% and Sun Pharma down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian Markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 rose 13.56 points or 0.03% to 39,596.64, Straits Times added 5.04 points or 0.15% to 3,337.84, Taiwan Weighted surged 83.64 points or 0.36% to 23,115.89, KOSPI increased 5.44 points or 0.19% to 2,803.26, Jakarta Composite gained 46.65 points or 0.66% to 7,110.23 and Shanghai Composite was up by 9.24 points or 0.31% to 2,976.64.