Markets trade higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in morning deals on Monday amid fresh foreign fund inflows and a rally in the US markets on Friday. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,932.81 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.  A firm trend in Asian markets further contributed to the optimism in equities. Traders took support with sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the Indian economy is growing at 7% and more than that in dollar terms. Talking about India's trade protectionism, he said that there may be protectionist measures but the country is substantially open. Some support also came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that India is negotiating trade agreements with several countries, including the US, and stressed that many nations are keen to engage with New Delhi on the trade front. He also exuded confidence that India's exports in 2025-26 will exceed last year's figures. In 2024-25, India's goods and services exports touched $825 billion. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green amid increasing optimism about the US Fed cutting interest rate in August based on last week's weak economic data.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80062.75, up by 204.96 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 79772.46 and 80065.46. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was down by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.64%, Realty up by 0.63%, Bankex up by 0.56%, Auto up by 0.50% and Power up by 0.47%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.95%, IT down by 0.22%, Energy down by 0.08%, TECK down by 0.07% and Telecom down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.57%, SBI up by 1.95%, Trent up by 1.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.83% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.79%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.03%, ICICI Bank down by 0.69%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.60%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.45% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said the government's aim is to accelerate the pace of highway construction to 100 km a day from 38 km/day at present. Gadkari said so far this year, the road ministry has awarded highways projects worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore, and by March next year, it will award highways projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore. The ministry constructed 10,660 km of national highways in 2024-25, 12,349 km in 2023-24 and 10,331 km in 2022-23.

About growing concern over social media about E20, rolled out by the government, is damaging the vehicle and there is no reduction in fuel cost, Gadkari rejected the claim, saying that the petroleum sector is lobbying against this move. Gadkari said ‘I challenge, if anyone has faced difficulty in his vehicle on account of mixing of ethanol in petrol’.  Further, he said that Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) conducts trials and comes up with reports before the government takes a call on ethanol blending. Currently, Indian vehicles can run on E20 petrol with minor changes to the engine to prevent corrosion and other issues. In 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol.

The Indian government will introduce guidelines for 27 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by the end of August. Ethanol, which can be produced from sugarcane, broken rice and other agricultural products, is expected to help reduce India's dependence on foreign oil. India is currently the world's third-largest oil consumer and imports about 88 per cent of its crude oil requirements, making it vulnerable to geopolitical vagaries that can impact crude prices.

Gadkari reiterated that his aim is to make India's automobile industry number one in the world. The size of the Indian automobile industry is now Rs 22 lakh crore. Presently, the size of the US automobile industry is Rs 78 lakh crore, followed by China (Rs 47 lakh crore) and India (Rs 22 lakh crore). He stated the automobile industry has created 4.5 crore jobs till now -- the highest in the country. Moreover, he said the days are not far away when prices of electric vehicles (EVs) will be less than those of petrol vehicles in the country within six months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24433.70, up by 70.40 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 24347.45 and 24435.05. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.47%, Grasim Industries up by 2.24%, SBI up by 2.12%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.89% and Trent up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 0.90%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.82%, ICICI Bank down by 0.62%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.62% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted added 176.12 points or 0.73% to 24,197.38, Shanghai Composite strengthened 18.37 points or 0.51% to 3,653.50 and Jakarta Composite gained 41.18 points or 0.55% to 7,574.56.

On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 2.50 points or 0.08% to 3,207.51, Hang Seng declined 3.82 points or 0.02% to 24,855.00 and Straits Times fell 6.17 points or 0.15% to 4,233.66.