Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- managed to cut all of its early losses and ended Friday’s trading session with minor gains, ahead of Q1FY25 earnings and key macroeconomic data due next week. Index made negative start amid lack of cues from other Asian markets. Investors took note of report that the government is working towards streamlining the application process for Indian business visas for companies that are not beneficiaries under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme but have set up manufacturing units across the 14 sectors covered under the scheme. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India and the United Kingdom have agreed to deepen cooperation between their cyber agencies in order to build a safe and robust cyberspace.
Index continued to trade on lower in noon deals, as traders were cautious after Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor of India, statement that the inclusion of petroleum in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would be a bad idea, as it is not politically advisable to ask states to give up more sovereignty. Besides, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drone components is a kickstarter for the sector to progress and should not be considered as a permanent subsidy from the government. However, in last leg of trade, index recovered from losses and kept its head above neutral line to end with minor gains.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Oil & Gas, Pharma and Healthcare, while selling was witnessed in Financial Services, Private Bank, Bank and Financial Services. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Laurus Labs, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and United Breweries. On the other hand, the top losers HDFC Bank, ACC and Indus Towers. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
