Markets likely to open in green amid India recording current account surplus

Indian markets settled in green on Monday after buying in power, auto, and industrial stocks helped recover early lows amid a bearish trend in global equity markets. Today, markets are likely to open in green tracking gains in Asian counterparts and supportive domestic economic data. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP. It added for FY24, the current account deficit narrowed to $23.2 billion or 0.7 per cent of GDP against $67 billion or 2 per cent of GDP in FY23. However, there may be some cautiousness amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares amounting to Rs 653.97 crore on June 24. There will be some buzz in the telecom stocks as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will begin the auction of Rs 96,317.65 crore of spectrum on Tuesday. With telecom operators making the lowest earnest money deposit (EMD) in the last six auction rounds, and companies announcing they will mostly focus on spectrum renewals. Auto stocks will be in limelight as CareEdge report said that the passenger vehicle (PV) industry in India is anticipated to witness moderate growth in the fiscal year 2025, with sales volumes expected to expand by 3 per cent to 5 per cent. There will be some reaction in stocks related to capital goods as Crisil report said capital goods makers are likely to see revenue rise by 9-11% in fiscal 2025, led by continued significant outlays towards railways (including metros), defence, conventional and renewable sectors. Metal stocks will be in focus as the commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR has recommended the continuation of countervailing or anti-subsidy duty on welded stainless steel pipes and tubes from China and Vietnam to guard domestic players. In a notification, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has said that there is a likelihood of injury to the domestic industry in the event of cessation of present countervailing duty on the imports from these two nations. In primary market, Allied Blenders and Distillers Rs 1,500 crore IPO to open for subscription today. The company is offering shares in the price band of Rs 267 - Rs 281 per share. Meanwhile, Stanley Lifestyle IPO to close today.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Monday amid sell-off in tech shares, with Nvidia falling almost 7 per cent. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Tuesday despite the Bank of Japan said producer prices in Japan were down 0.1 percent on month in May.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended with marginal gains in the volatile session on Monday, helped by buying in Auto, Power and Industrials stocks and firm beginning in European markets. Benchmarks made a negative start amid weak trends from global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,790.19 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Some concern also came as data released by the Ministry of Labour & Employment showed that the retail inflation for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and rural workers (CPI-RL) remained almost unchanged at 7 per cent and 7.02 per cent respectively in May 2024. Traders also remained cautious as the Reserve Bank said India's forex reserves dropped by $2.922 billion to $652.895 billion for the week ended June 14. In the previous reporting week, the kitty had jumped by $4.307 billion to $655.817 billion, a new all-time high after consecutive weeks of increase in the reserves. However, key indices recouped all of their initial losses in late morning deals and managed to keep their heads above water till the end, as traders found some support after the GST Council at its 53rd meeting introduced sweeping reforms with an aim to simplify tax compliance and ease the burden on taxpayers. Key among these is the introduction of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication for registration applicants nationwide. This is intended to curb fraudulent registrations and tax evasion. Sentiments remained positive as S&P Global Market Intelligence said that the new government will likely focus on job creation and addressing farmers’ concerns in its first 100 days. It also said India’s recent parliamentary elections have resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continued leadership, although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lost its majority and now relies on coalition parties for stability and policy passage. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 131.18 points or 0.17% to 77,341.08, and the CNX Nifty was up by 36.75 points or 0.16% points to 23,537.85.