Sensex, Nifty trade marginally higher in second part of special trading session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading slightly higher in second part of special session on Saturday. Earlier, indices settled marginally higher in the first part of a special trading session held from 9:15 AM to 10 AM at the Primary Site (PR). Now, the special live trading session has been switched over to the Disaster Recovery (DR) site from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Sensex and Nifty are trading higher with modest gains amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on May 17 after days of unabated outflows. They bought equities worth Rs 1,616.79 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Broader indices -- BSE Mid & Small cap – are outperforming larger peers with gains of over half a percent each. Buying activity is visible in all the sector indices led by Industrials, Capital Goods and PSU.

Traders took note of report that India and Britain have reaffirmed their commitment to conclude a mutually beneficial free trade agreement (FTA) at the annual UK-India Strategic Dialogue, as the two sides reflected the ''good progress'' on the 2030 Roadmap since the last review. This included collaborating on the world's first malaria vaccine, working closely on India's successful G20 Presidency and increasing opportunities for students and entrepreneurs under the Migration and Mobility Partnership. In stock specific development, Nestle India surged after its shareholders voted against an increase in royalty payment to the parent company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73984.20, up by 67.17 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 73920.63 and 74162.76. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 1.30%, Capital Goods up by 1.25%, PSU up by 1.19%, Power up by 0.78% and Realty up by 0.72%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 2.45%, Power Grid up by 1.05%, Tata Steel up by 0.51%, Indusind Bank up by 0.48% and NTPC up by 0.41%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.57%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.33%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.23% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya has said that the country could become the third largest economy globally by 2027-28 if the country continues the growth momentum witnessed in the last two decades. He also said that during the last two decades, beginning 2003-4, India has ended extreme poverty. The extreme poverty, currently, is not more than 3 percent of the total population.

He said there is a problem of under-employment in the agriculture sector as a large portion of the workforce is engaged in the segment, and there is a need to move them out of the vertical to industry for faster urbanisation. He said ‘A large part of the workforce in agriculture has to move to industrial or services economy, and that is the pathway to transformation’. Currently, 45 percent of India's workforce is employed in agriculture and the sector contributes 15 percent of GDP. This means the average productivity in agriculture is one-third the average productivity in the economy.

About growth, Panagariya said in the last two decades, starting 2003-04, India has grown at about 8 percent in real GDP in US dollar terms. In nominal terms, the GDP growth has been 10.2 percent in the past 20 years. He said ‘A lot of what we have today has transpired in the last two decades. During this period, we dealt with the global financial crisis and COVID shocks. It is that growth, which has put us in the fifth spot in international GDP ranking in dollar terms’. India, with a GDP of roughly $3.4 trillion, is currently the fifth largest economy in the world, after the US, China, Germany and Japan.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22482.25, up by 16.15 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 22470.10 and 22519.85. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 2.41%, Power Grid up by 1.31%, ONGC up by 0.92%, Hindalco up by 0.72% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.45%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.54%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.38%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.37%, Titan Company down by 0.26% and Eicher Motors down by 0.25% were the top losers.