Benchmarks trade higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in morning deals, led by gains in Utilities, Power and Oil & Gas stocks. Traders took support with Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that reduction of corporate tax from 40 per cent to 35 per cent in the 2024 Indian Budget and removal of Angel Tax are among the measures that will promote India-US economic engagement. Some support also came as Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reassured the public that there is no need for concern about job losses. He predicted that India's unemployment rate would fall below 3 per cent in the near future. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red amid speculation investors are trimming some of their holdings before a rush of events in coming days including major central bank decisions, key economic data and earnings from US megacap companies. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81499.24, up by 143.40 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 81230.44 and 81520.94. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.49%, Power up by 2.28%, Oil & Gas up by 1.54%, Energy up by 1.33% and PSU up by 1.23%, while IT down by 0.36% and TECK down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.96%, NTPC up by 3.64%, Tata Motors up by 2.39%, Asian Paints up by 2.28% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.57%, TCS down by 1.05%, Sun Pharma down by 0.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.74% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said that there is no need for concern about job losses and there is no lack of jobs. Mandaviya stated that the country's unemployment rate would come down below 3 per cent in the future. 

He said the current unemployment rate is 3.2 per cent. It came down from 6 per cent in the 2017-18 period as employment generation has taken place under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
He also said the labour force participation has gone up to 44 per cent from 38 per cent in 2017-18 while the work-population ratio rose to 40 per cent from 31 per cent during the same period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24883.00, up by 46.90 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 24798.65 and 24887.45. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 4.75%, Power Grid Corporation up by 3.94%, NTPC up by 3.55%, Coal India up by 2.46% and Asian Paints up by 2.36%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.63%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.59%, Hindalco down by 1.51%, Cipla down by 1.28% and LTIMindtree down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 193.22 points or 1.12% to 17,045.12, Jakarta Composite plunged 39.72 points or 0.55% to 7,249.18, Shanghai Composite weakened 16.52 points or 0.57% to 2,875.33, KOSPI dropped 29.79 points or 1.08% to 2,735.74 and Nikkei 225 slipped 33.38 points or 0.09% to 38,435.25.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 91.94 points or 0.41% to 22,256.43 and Straits Times rose 7.37 points or 0.21% to 3,451.55.