Bullish momentum persists in early afternoon deals

Indian markets maintained their bullish trade in early afternoon deals despite renewed geopolitical tensions and a rebound in Brent crude oil prices near to the $80-a-barrel mark. Indices were trading firmly higher as a strong buying activity was seen in markets a day after one of the sharpest sell-offs in recent weeks. Also, sustained buying interest by foreign investors aided domestic sentiments. According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,962.80 crore on Wednesday. Traders took note of report that India and Australia have finalised the administrative arrangements required to enable the export of Australian uranium to India for exclusively peaceful purposes under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, marking a significant step in bilateral energy cooperation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as semiconductor stocks drove momentum. Back home, on the sectoral front, IT stocks remained under pressure as investor turned cautious ahead of Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) April-June quarter results, coupled with concerns over the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes regarding a prolonged high-rate regime.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77000.69, up by 497.09 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 76576.14 and 77326.65. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.86%, Consumer Durables up by 1.55%, Healthcare up by 1.46%, FMCG up by 1.30% and Industrials up by 1.09%, while IT down by 0.06% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.54%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.37%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.96%, Eternal up by 1.92% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.43%, Maruti Suzuki India down by 0.99%, TCS down by 0.61%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.52% and NTPC down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid ongoing realignment of global supply chains, the Assocham in its report has highlighted that India is emerging as a major beneficiary and is rapidly strengthening its position as one of the world's leading manufacturing destinations. Though China remains the world's largest manufacturing economy, the report noted that the adoption of China+1 policy by the global firms has increased the distribution of new investments and production capacity across multiple economies. It added that firms are opting nearshoring and friendshoring strategies to build resilient and diversified supply chains.

On the country’s manufacturing resilience, Assocham pointed that India has emerged as one of the emerging manufacturing leaders. It added that the country’s manufacturing performance relative to the global average is improved in the post-pandemic period. India's average manufacturing growth rose from 3.44% in the pre-pandemic period (2016-19) to 4.15% in 2022-25, moving from below the global average to nearly two percentage points above the world benchmark.

The report noted that the country’s improving manufacturing performance reflects the impact of sustained reforms and growing investor confidence. Besides, India is well-positioned to consolidate its manufacturing leadership by accelerating logistics and industrial infrastructure, strengthening domestic supplier ecosystems and leveraging Free Trade Agreements to integrate more deeply with global value chains.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24038.10, up by 156.05 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 23927.70 and 24134.70. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.66%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.54%, Sun Pharma up by 2.48% and Shriram Finance up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 5.19%, Infosys down by 1.48%, Eicher Motors down by 1.02%, ONGC down by 0.97% and Maruti Suzuki India down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 1355.95 points or 1.99% to 68,175.00, Shanghai Composite strengthened 65.71 points or 1.63% to 4,036.59, Straits Times rose 63.18 points or 1.16% to 5,432.75, KOSPI increased 45.12 points or 0.62% to 7,291.91 and Jakarta Composite was up by 14.27 points or 0.24% to 5,887.64.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted lost 379.8 points or 0.84% to 45,354.61 and Hang Seng declined 221.46 points or 0.92% to 23,978.00.