Domestic equity indices continue to trade in green in late morning deals

Indian equity markets continued to trade in green in late morning deals on account of buying in HCL, NTPC, SBI, Ultratech Cement and Maruti Suzuki’s companies’ stocks. Meanwhile, broader indices were also trading in green with BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index gaining in the range of 0.20-0.55%. Sentiments got boost with report that direct tax collections surged nearly 20% from a year earlier to Rs 5.74 lakh crore in FY25 so far, riding a jump in personal income tax flows. This should provide the government with more fiscal flexibility in the budget for this fiscal year, which will be presented on July 23. Further, support also came in as India’s factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew to a seven-month high of 5.9 per cent in May 2024, led by better-than-expected expansion in power and mining sectors. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up positions in Oil & Gas, PSU, Healthcare, Utilities and Energy, while selling was witnessed only in Capital Goods and Industrials. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as China’s GDP data missed expectations, while investors also assessed the impact of an assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally over the weekend. China’s statistics bureau announced that its economy grew 4.7% in the second quarter, missing expectations of a 5.1% expansion forecast by street and lower than the 5.3% rise seen in the first quarter. Back home, in the stock specific development, Apollo Microsystems rallied after the company announced that it has been awarded a project by the Indian Army.   

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80723.54, up by 204.20 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 80556.97 and 80813.69. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55%, while Small cap index up by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.35%, PSU up by 1.01%, Healthcare up by 0.92%, Utilities up by 0.91% and Energy up by 0.89%, while, Capital Goods down by 0.25% and Industrials down by 0.16% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL up by 1.90%, NTPC up by 1.88%, SBI up by 1.54%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.08% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.85%, Tata Steel down by 0.71%, Reliance Industries down by 0.33%, JSW Steel down by 0.26% and HDFC Bank down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation increased to 5.08 per cent in June 2024 from a revised 4.80 per cent in May 2024 as kitchen items became dearer. CPI was 4.87 per cent in June 2023 (previous low). The inflation remained within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) comfort zone. The government has tasked the RBI to ensure that the CPI inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. The central bank mainly factors in the retail inflation while deciding its bi-monthly monetary policy.

The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in June 2024 stood at 5.66 per cent over 5.34 per cent in May 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 4.39 per cent in June as against 4.21 per cent in May. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 192.2, 187.8 and 190.2 respectively, in June 2024. The price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. 

As per the data, inflation in the food basket was 9.36 per cent in June, up from 8.69 per cent in May. The rise in food prices was driven by acceleration in the prices of cereals (8.75 per cent in June against 8.69 per cent in May), fruit (7.15 per cent in June against 6.68 per cent in May), vegetables (29.32 per cent in June against 27.33 per cent in May), and Sugar & Confectionery (5.83 per cent in June against 5.70 per cent in May). Though the price of pulses decelerated to 16.07 per cent in June over 17.14 per cent the preceding month, it still saw a double-digit rise in June. On the other hand, prices of protein-rich items like meat and fish (5.39 per cent in June v/s 7.28 per cent in May) and eggs (3.99 per cent in June v/s 7.62 per cent in May) decelerated during the month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24580.90, up by 78.75 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 24522.75 and 24603.40. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.77%, NTPC up by 2.03%, Shriram Finance up by 1.95%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.69% and HCL up by 1.67%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.60%, Asian Paints down by 0.94%, Tata Steel down by 0.70%, LTIMindtree down by 0.69% and Reliance Industries down by 0.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 246.06 points or 1.35% to 18,047.32, Jakarta Composite plunged 42.48 points or 0.58% to 7,285.10, Straits Times fell 1.07 points or 0.03% to 3,496.71 and Taiwan Weighted lost 49.43 points or 0.21% to 23,867.50. However, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.3 points or 0.04% to 2,972.60 and KOSPI increased 5.39 points or 0.19% to 2,862.39.