Sensex, Nifty hold heads above neutral lines

During early afternoon session, Indian equity benchmarks were holding their heads above their respective neutral lines, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at IT and FMCG counters, amid optimism over potential U.S. rate cuts and a continued decline in oil prices on prospect of higher OPEC+ supply. However, some gains got trimmed, amid a private report slashed FY25 GDP growth estimates for India to 6.7 percent, down from the previous of 6.9 percent, citing weaker Q2 and soft signals for Q3. The report’s GDP growth projections also stand much lower than the Reserve Bank of India's 7.2 percent forecast.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the manufacturing sector in South Korea continued to expand in August, and at a faster rate, with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.9. That's up from 51.4 in July, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. There was a steeper increase in production levels in August, with output up solidly midway through the third quarter of the year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82615.44, up by 249.67 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 82499.73 and 82725.28. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.13%, while Small cap index was down by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.87%, FMCG up by 0.83%, TECK up by 0.43%, Energy up by 0.27% and Oil & Gas up by 0.14%, while Telecom down by 2.00%, Metal down by 0.92%, Capital Goods down by 0.87%, Industrials down by 0.86% and Power down by 0.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.47%, HCL Tech. up by 3.19%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.59%, ITC up by 1.76% and Infosys up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.51%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.36%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.05%, NTPC down by 0.98% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in its latest data has showed that the Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of first four months of FY25 (April-July 2024) touched 17.2 per cent of the full-year target. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit -- the gap between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 2,76,945 crore as of July-end. The deficit stood at 33.9 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) in the corresponding period of 2023-24. In the Union Budget, the government projected to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current 2024-25 financial year. The deficit was 5.6 per cent of the GDP in 2023-24. In absolute terms, the government aims to contain the fiscal deficit at Rs 16,13,312 crore during the current fiscal. 

Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government for the first four months of 2024-25, CGA said the net tax revenue was Rs 7,15,224 crore or 27.7 per cent of the BE for the current fiscal. The net tax revenue collection was 25 per cent at the July-end 2023. The central government's total expenditure in the four months through July stood at Rs 13,00,351 crore or 27 per cent of BE. The expenditure was 30.7 per cent of the BE in the year-ago period.  

Of the total expenditure, Rs 10,39,091 crore was in the revenue account and Rs 2,61,260 crore was in the capital account. Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 3,27,887 crore was towards interest payments and Rs 1,25,639 crore on account of major subsidies. CGA said Rs 3,66,630 crore has been transferred to state governments as devolution of share of taxes by the Centre up to July, which is Rs 57,109 crore higher than the previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25276.80, up by 40.90 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 25273.55 and 25333.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.35%, HCL Tech. up by 3.02%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.55%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.75% and ITC up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.38%, Hindalco down by 2.23%, Tata Motors down by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.42% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 32.94 points or 0.43% to 7,703.67, Straits Times rose 22.99 points or 0.67% to 3,465.92, KOSPI increased 6.69 points or 0.25% to 2,681.00 and Nikkei 225 surged 53.12 points or 0.14% to 38,700.87, while Hang Seng declined 324.53 points or 1.8% to 17,664.54, Shanghai Composite weakened 31 points or 1.09% to 2,811.21 and Taiwan Weighted lost 32.99 points or 0.15% to 22,235.10.