Positive trade continues in Indian markets during early noon deals

A positive trade continued over the Dalal Street during early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, aided by heavy buying at IT and TECK counters along with firm cues from other Asian markets. Traders were positive, amid a private report stating that India aims to clock $2 trillion goods and services exports by 2030 amid the Red Sea crisis and two ongoing wars. Ecommerce exports are growing rapidly and those done through the postal and courier routes are pegged at $1.5 billion. Besides, another private report stated that the government is likely to increase subsidies on rural housing in the upcoming Budget 2024 by up to 50 percent from the previous year to more than $6.5 billion.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even as the services sector in Japan slipped into contraction territory in June, with a services PMI score of 49.4. That's down from 53.8 in May, and it falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The main influencing factor on the drop in total activity in June was a lack of growth in new business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80232.31, up by 245.51 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 80052.34 and 80392.64. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.43%, TECK up by 1.37%, Telecom up by 1.00%, Healthcare up by 0.86% and Industrials up by 0.72%, while Bankex down by 0.03% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech. up by 2.71%, ICICI Bank up by 2.02%, Infosys up by 1.82%, TCS up by 1.80% and Tata Motors up by 1.37%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.12%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.51%, Indusind Bank down by 0.92%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.92% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting benefits of the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme, the Ministry of Defence has said that the scheme is encouraging the participation of public/private industries, especially start-ups and MSMEs, to create an ecosystem aimed at enhancing the capabilities in cutting-edge technology and promoting ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence. 

The TDF scheme is a flagship programme of Ministry of Defence executed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under the 'Make in India’ initiative. The Ministry further noted that so far, a total of 77 projects, with a commitment of over Rs 300 crore, have been sanctioned to various industries, and 27 defence technologies have been successfully realised under the scheme.

The main objectives of the TDF scheme are to provide Grant in Aid to Indian industries, including MSMEs & start-ups, as well as academic and scientific institutions for the development of defence and dual use technologies that are currently not available with the Indian defence Industry; to engage with the private industries, especially MSMEs and start-ups, to bring in the culture of Design & Development of Military Technology and support them with Grant in Aid; to focus on Research, Design & Development of Niche technologies which are being developed for the first time in the country and to create a bridge amongst the Armed Forces, research organisations, academia and qualifying/certifying agencies with private sector entities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24346.70, up by 60.20 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 24300.35 and 24401.00. There were 29 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL up by 2.64%, ICICI Bank up by 2.00%, Infosys up by 1.81%, TCS up by 1.74% and Tata Motors up by 1.39%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.17%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.65%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.99%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.97% and Wipro down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 51.66 points or 0.29% to 18,030.23, Jakarta Composite gained 47.94 points or 0.66% to 7,244.70, Straits Times rose 19.38 points or 0.56% to 3,434.89, KOSPI increased 30.93 points or 1.09% to 2,824.94, Nikkei 225 surged 332.89 points or 0.81% to 40,913.65 and Taiwan Weighted added 350.1 points or 1.49% to 23,522.53, while Shanghai Composite weakened 22.25 points or 0.75% to 2,960.13.