Markets trade in fine fettle on bargain hunting

Domestic equity markets started the Tuesday’s session on firm note tracking positive sentiment in Asian peers. Markets are trading in fine fettle with gains on over a percent in early deals as traders went for bargain hunting after previous session’s sharp sell-off. Sensex and Nifty are hovering above their psychological levels of 79,600 and 24,300, respectively. Traders took encouragement as a private report stated that India's economy is expected to grow at 7-7.2 per cent in the current fiscal year driven by robust economic fundamentals and continuity in domestic policy reforms. Investors are also monitoring quarterly earnings reports.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, despite the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as most markets rebounded strongly after the worst sell-off since 2008 amid fears about the world's largest economy slipping into recession following some recent disappointing data on US jobs and manufacturing activity. Meanwhile, the average of household spending in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on month in June.

Back home, port sector socks are in focus as the data released by major ports' apex body Indian Ports Association showed that crgo traffic at 12 major ports in the country grew 5.92 per cent to 70.08 million tonnes (MT) in July from 66.17 MT handled in the year-ago period. In stock specific development, GAIL and Coal India surged after they entered into a joint venture pact to establish a coal-to-synthetic natural gas project in West Bengal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79676.89, up by 917.49 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 78981.97 and 79852.08. All 30 stocks were advancing on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped 1.70%, while Small cap index was up by 1.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.69%, IT up by 2.08%, Capital Goods up by 2.00%, Basic Materials up by 1.97% and Telecom up by 1.83%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.84%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.48%, HCL Technologies up by 2.33%, JSW Steel up by 2.24% and Tata Motors up by 2.21%.

Meanwhile, the government has said that Viksit Bharat is not a project but a vision document under preparation, outlining the growth trajectory for India to become a developed nation by 2047. Union Minister for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said ‘It is not a project per se’.

Viksit Bharat, Singh said ‘It is a vision document that is under preparation...As Viksit Bharat is not a project, therefore, provision of financial assistance to states does not arise’. He added ‘Infrastructure development is an ongoing priority of the government to boost growth and development’.

About the policy steps taken in the infrastructure and connectivity sector to boost growth and development, the minister stated that the government firmly believes that these sectors are going to be growth engines for Viksit Bharat.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24339.95, up by 284.35 points or 1.18% after trading in a range of 24189.50 and 24382.60. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.95%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.78%, Wipro up by 2.67%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.55% and HCL Technologies up by 2.47%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.44% and SBI Life Insuran down by 0.37% were the only losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 3072.38 points or 8.9% to 34,530.80, Taiwan Weighted added 695.39 points or 3.39% to 20,526.27, KOSPI increased 110.23 points or 4.32% to 2,551.78, Hang Seng advanced 77.29 points or 0.46% to 16,775.65, Jakarta Composite gained 75.54 points or 1.06% to 7,135.19 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.17 points or 0.04% to 2,861.87, while Straits Times was down by 22.61 points or 0.7% to 3,221.06.