Sensex, Nifty trade near day’s high points

Extending their gains, Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their intraday high points during early afternoon deals, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at IT, TECK and Telecom counters. Domestic sentiments remained optimistic, as commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that India as an investment destination is doing extremely well with the country witnessing high foreign remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign institutional investment (FII) inflows. Besides, India's manufacturing sector growth improved in the month of June, as buoyant demand conditions spurred the expansions in new orders, output and buying levels. According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to 58.3 in June 2024 as against 57.5 in May 2024, thus indicating a sharper improvement in business conditions.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, as Japan's consumer sentiment increased for the first time in three months in June, though marginally. The survey data from the Cabinet Office showed that the seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index rose to 36.4 in June from 36.2 in May. The latest survey was conducted on June 15 among 8,400 households. The indicator for income growth improved by 0.7 points to 40.6, and that for willingness to buy durable consumer goods also rose by 0.6 points to 29.6.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79384.44, up by 351.71 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 78971.79 and 79437.20. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.88%, while Small cap index was up by 1.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.29%, TECK up by 1.86%, Telecom up by 1.21%, Consumer Disc up by 0.67% and Basic Materials up by 0.63%, while Utilities down by 0.46%, Power down by 0.36% and Realty down by 0.23% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.17%, TCS up by 2.10%, Infosys up by 1.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.32% and HCL Tech. up by 1.12%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.01%, Sun Pharma down by 0.78%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.72%, SBI down by 0.64% and Reliance Industries down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, 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. The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is probing the alleged dumping of glass fibres and its articles originating in or exported from these countries.

Glass fibre or fibre glass is reinforced plastic that is strong, lightweight, flexible and can be moulded into many complex shapes. It has many industrial and domestic uses. Owens-Corning (India) has filed the application seeking initiation of an anti-dumping investigation on the imports. The applicant has alleged that material injury is being caused to the domestic industry due to the alleged dumped imports and has requested for the imposition of anti-dumping duties.

The DGTR in a notification has said that on the basis of the duly substantiated written application submitted by the applicant and having reached satisfaction based on the prima facie evidence submitted by the applicant concerning the dumping of the product. The Authority, hereby, initiates an anti-dumping investigation. If it is established that the dumping has caused material injury to domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of anti-dumping duty on these imports. The finance ministry takes the final decision to impose duties.

Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine whether domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a countermeasure, they impose these duties under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from various countries, including China.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24117.85, up by 107.25 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 23992.70 and 24128.00. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 3.71%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.17%, LTIMindtree up by 2.51%, TCS up by 2.09% and Infosys up by 2.05%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.07%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.89%, Divi's Lab down by 0.87%, ONGC down by 0.86% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Jakarta Composite gained 53.2 points or 0.75% to 7,116.78, Shanghai Composite strengthened 27.33 points or 0.92% to 2,994.73, Straits Times rose 2.69 points or 0.08% to 3,335.49, KOSPI increased 6.49 points or 0.23% to 2,804.31, Nikkei 225 surged 47.98 points or 0.12% to 39,631.06 and Taiwan Weighted added 26.32 points or 0.11% to 23,058.57.