Firm trade persists on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in morning session on account of buying in blue chip stocks from across various sectors amid a rally in the global markets. Traders took support with S&P Global Ratings’ report stating that India is a well diversified exporter and a blip in its exports to Bangladesh is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on India's overall trade position for the full year. Some support also came as the government has approved the continuation of interest subvention scheme for short-term loans of up to Rs 3 lakh for agriculture and allied activities availed through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) during the current financial year. Under the scheme, farmers get loan at a concessional interest rate of 7 per cent. An additional interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum is provided to farmers who repay loans in time. Meanwhile, Reserve Bank's rate-setting panel started its three-day deliberations for the next set of bi-monthly monetary policy amid expectations of no change in benchmark interest rate in view of concerns on inflation and economic growth remaining steady. The decision of the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-headed six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be announced on Thursday. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher after Wall Street bounced and concerns about a U.S. recession were reassessed, though Japanese stocks took a dip as heightened volatility squeezed leveraged positions. Back home, on the sectoral front, banking stocks remained in watch with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stating that banks have written off loans worth Rs 9.90 trillion in the last five financial years. During 2023-24, banks loan write off was at Rs 1.70 trillion, as against Rs 2.08 trillion in the previous fiscal. Write-off was highest at Rs 2.34 trillion during 2019-20, which came down to Rs 2.02 trillion in the following year and to Rs 1.74 trillion in 2021-22. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79208.77, up by 615.70 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 79106.28 and 79639.20. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.59%, while Small cap index was up by 1.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 3.57%, Energy up by 2.90%, Metal up by 2.75%, PSU up by 2.13% and Basic Materials up by 1.81%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.84%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.07%, Tata Steel up by 2.03%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.97% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.63%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.56%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.56%, Asian Paints down by 0.51% and ICICI Bank down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Labour Ministry has said that retail inflation for industrial workers slipped to 3.67 per cent in June 2024 from 3.86 per cent in the previous month this year mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. It said ‘Year-on-year inflation for the month of June 2024 moderated to 3.67 per cent as compared to 5.57 per cent in June 2023.’

It stated the All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers CPI-IW for June 2024 was at 141.4 points against 139.9 points in May 2024. Food and Beverages Group under the CPI-IW was at 148.7 points in June 2024 against 145.2 points in May this year.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24219.10, up by 226.55 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 24184.90 and 24306.45. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 7.22%, Coal India up by 4.06%, BPCL up by 2.97%, Hindalco up by 2.82% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.79%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.70%, Eicher Motors down by 0.67%, Asian Paints down by 0.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.51% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.43% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 217.58 points or 1.29% to 16,864.92, Jakarta Composite gained 101.48 points or 1.42% to 7,230.70, Shanghai Composite strengthened 8.89 points or 0.31% to 2,876.17, Straits Times rose 40.33 points or 1.26% to 3,238.77, KOSPI increased 59.69 points or 2.37% to 2,581.84, Nikkei 225 surged 1082.96 points or 3.12% to 35,758.42 and Taiwan Weighted added 782.18 points or 3.82% to 21,283.20.