Sensex, Nifty stick in range bound trade

Indian equity benchmarks were stuck in range bound trade in early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding limited gains, amid mixed cues from other Asian markets along with higher wholesale inflation data. Wholesale inflation rose to a 16-month high of 3.4 percent in June, compared with 2.6 percent in the previous month. Wholesale food inflation was up 8.7 percent compared with 7.4 percent in the previous quarter. However, the trade remained in green, amid report that with an aim to foster innovation and sustainability in India's agricultural sector, the Government is poised to launch the 'Agri Fund for Start-Ups & Rural Enterprises' (AgriSURE) to support start-ups and agripreneurs through investments in sector-specific, sector-agnostic, and debt Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), as well as direct equity support to start-ups working in Agriculture and allied sectors.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as China's economic growth missed expectations in the second quarter on weaker consumption and property market downturn, suggesting that more policy measures are needed to achieve the official growth target this year. Gross domestic product expanded 4.7 percent on year in the second quarter. That was weaker than forecast of 5.1 percent expansion and also down from the 5.3 percent growth posted in the three months to March.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80674.15, up by 154.81 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 80556.97 and 80813.69. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.55%, Healthcare up by 1.14%, Realty up by 1.14%, Energy up by 1.10% and Utilities up by 1.09%, while Capital Goods down by 0.27% and Industrials down by 0.18% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.61%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.98%, SBI up by 1.49%, HCL Tech. up by 1.19% and ITC up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.27%, Tata Steel down by 0.71%, Axis Bank down by 0.49%, JSW Steel down by 0.42% and HDFC Bank down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report has said that automobile exports from India rose 15.5 per cent year-on-year in the June quarter (Q1FY25) with all verticals, barring three-wheelers, recording growth in shipments. Overall shipments stood at 11,92,577 units in the first quarter the current fiscal year, as compared with 10,32,449 units in the same period of the last fiscal.

Passenger vehicle exports stood at 1,80,483 units in the first quarter, registering a jump of 19 per cent over 1,52,156 units in the same period last year. Two-wheeler exports stood at 9,23,148 units in the first quarter, up 17 per cent as against 7,91,316 units in the year-ago period. Commercial vehicle shipments rose 8 per cent year-on-year to 15,741 units in the first quarter as compared with 14,625 units a year earlier. Three-wheeler shipments, however, saw a drop of 3 per cent year-on-year to 71,281 units in the April-June period this year as against 73,360 units in the year-ago period. 

Automobile exports from India had declined 5.5 per cent in FY24 due to the monetary crisis in various overseas markets. Overall exports stood at 45,00,492 units in the last fiscal year as compared with 47,61,299 units in FY23. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24576.90, up by 74.75 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 24522.75 and 24611.85. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.12%, ONGC up by 2.61%, NTPC up by 2.48%, Shriram Finance up by 2.17% and Ultratech Cement up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 1.17%, Tata Steel down by 0.71%, LTIMindtree down by 0.67% and Tata Consumer Products down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 277.91 points or 1.52% to 18,015.47, Jakarta Composite plunged 43.08 points or 0.59% to 7,284.50 and Taiwan Weighted lost 37.57 points or 0.16% to 23,879.36, while Shanghai Composite strengthened 3.92 points or 0.13% to 2,975.22, Straits Times rose 1.37 points or 0.04% to 3,499.15 and KOSPI increased 3.92 points or 0.14% to 2,860.92.