Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in green in morning deals, led by gains in Metal, Basic Materials and Utilities stocks. Traders got support as S&P Global Ratings retained India's growth forecast at 6.8 per cent for the current fiscal and said it expects the RBI to start cutting interest rates in its October monetary policy review. In the economic outlook of Asia Pacific, S&P Global Ratings also retained its GDP growth forecast for the 2025-26 fiscal at 6.9 per cent and said solid growth in India will allow the Reserve Bank to focus on bringing inflation in line with its target. Some support also came as rating agency ICRA, in its latest report Southwest Monsoon 2024 - Update, asserted that above-normal monsoon rains that helped farmers sow more crops this Kharif season bode well for agriculture, and are likely to improve gross value addition (GVA) in the sector. It stated that the GVA growth of agriculture, forestry, and fishing will improve to 3.2 per cent in the current financial year 2024-25 from 1.4 per cent in 2023-24. However, gains remained capped as traders remained on sidelines ahead of F&O monthly expiry.  

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to the several measures announced by the People's Bank of China to ramp up efforts to boost growth, including interest rate cuts. Optimism about the outlook for the economy after the US Fed's interest rate cut last week in aiding market sentiment.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 85054.06, up by 125.45 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 84716.07 and 85057.65. 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 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.50%, Basic Materials up by 1.28%, Utilities up by 1.05%, Power up by 0.85% and Oil & Gas up by 0.52%, while Realty down by 0.70%, IT down by 0.44%, FMCG down by 0.28%, TECK down by 0.24% and Bankex down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.38%, JSW Steel up by 2.36%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.96%, Nestle up by 1.01% and HDFC Bank up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.26%, Infosys down by 0.92%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.83%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.69% and Axis Bank down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, marking the highest recorded increase since payroll data tracking began in April 2018, Mansukh Mandavia, Union Labour Minister, said the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 19.94 lakh net members in July 2024. This highlighted a shift in India’s employment landscape, reflecting the effectiveness of the Modi Government’s transformative schemes aimed at driving job creation and formalising the job market.

Youth employment is leading the surge in formal job creation, with 8.77 lakh young individuals contributing to the net payroll in July 2024 alone. Among these, 6.25 lakh were first-time employees, accounting for 59.41 per cent of total new joinees in the month. This growth can be attributed to initiatives like the National Career Service (NCS), which currently hosts over 20 lakh active vacancies and has registered 33.72 lakh companies, indicating robust hiring across various sectors.

The EPFO data indicated that of the new additions, 10.52 lakh are first-time employees, marking a 2.66 per cent increase over June 2024 and a 2.43 per cent rise compared to July 2023. This uptick in employment showcases an expanding job market and increased opportunities, particularly for youth and women.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25969.25, up by 30.20 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 25886.85 and 25981.50. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.35%, Hindalco up by 2.47%, JSW Steel up by 2.28%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.79% and Nestle up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29%, LTIMindtree down by 1.24%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.00%, Infosys down by 0.94% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 598.26 points or 3.17% to 18,845.37, Jakarta Composite gained 14.82 points or 0.19% to 7,790.55, Shanghai Composite strengthened 65.38 points or 2.32% to 2,814.30, KOSPI increased 15.61 points or 0.6% to 2,617.62, Nikkei 225 surged 295.45 points or 0.78% to 38,019.36 and Taiwan Weighted added 33.66 points or 0.15% to 22,319.19.

On the flip side, Straits Times fell 0.8 points or 0.02% to 3,637.74.