Firm trade persists over Dalal Street

A firm trade persisted over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at Telecom and Oil & Gas counters. Sentiments remained upbeat, amid private report stating that India continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy global outlook and the country could clock a 7 per cent growth in the current fiscal despite the headwinds.

However, upside remained capped, as India's business activity slowed down in the month of September, as both output and new orders rose at the slowest rates in 2024 so far. The headline HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index -- a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors -- dipped to 59.3 in September from 60.7 in August. Softer expansions were seen across both the manufacturing and services sectors.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, after Malaysia's consumer price inflation eased slightly in August to the lowest level in four months. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that the consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 1.9 percent year-on-year in August, slower than July's steady rate of 2.0 percent.  The data also showed that core inflation held steady at 1.9 percent in August.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84675.90, up by 131.59 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 84607.38 and 84881.73. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.09%, Oil & Gas up by 2.06%, Realty up by 1.93%, PSU up by 1.62% and Energy up by 1.61%, while IT down by 0.68% and TECK down by 0.12% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.40%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.55%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.10% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.05%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.36%, Indusind Bank down by 1.30%, Infosys down by 1.20% and HCL Tech. down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) in its latest data has indicated that India's net foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to $5.5 billion during the April-July period of the current financial year (FY25) as compared to $3.8 billion in the same period last year. The gross inward FDI grew by 23.6 per cent year-on-year to $27.7 billion during the April-July period from $22.4 billion in the same period last year.  

As per the data, repatriation and divestment by foreign investors in India increased to $15.9 billion in the first four months of FY25 as compared to $14.7 billion in the year-ago period. With more than three-fourths of the flows, the major source countries were Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands, the US, Belgium and Japan. Non-resident deposits recorded net inflows of $5.8 billion during April-July 2024 as compared with $3 billion a year ago, with higher inflows in all three accounts. Manufacturing, financial services, communication services, computer services, electricity, and other energy sectors accounted for more than three-fourths of the gross FDI inflows.

It further said net FDI flow dropped sharply to $9.8 billion in FY24 from $28 billion in the previous year. In FY22, net FDI flows into the country were $38.6 billion. Net foreign portfolio investment (FPI) was to the tune of $4.3 billion during August, the third consecutive month of net inflows.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25867.50, up by 76.55 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 25847.35 and 25925.80. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.09%, SBI up by 2.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.57%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.46% and BPCL up by 1.87%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.67%, Eicher Motors down by 1.57%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.41%, Indusind Bank down by 1.33% and HCL Tech. down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 18.18 points or 0.1% to 18,276.75, Shanghai Composite strengthened 11.4 points or 0.41% to 2,748.21, Straits Times rose 11.02 points or 0.3% to 3,635.78, KOSPI increased 8.64 points or 0.33% to 2,602.01 and Taiwan Weighted added 126.11 points or 0.57% to 22,285.53, while Jakarta Composite plunged 7.79 points or 0.1% to 7,735.21.