Bulls hold grip over Indian markets

Bulls continued to roar over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of around a per cent, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Oil & Gas and Energy counters. Sentiments remained upbeat, amid a private report stating that India's central bank could cut interest rates by 100 basis points in a monetary easing cycle that is likely to start in December as inflation eases towards its 4% target.

Traders took a note of reports that the Union Minister of Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs & Sports, Mansukh Mandaviya has suggested expeditious implementation of the Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme announced in Union Budget 2024-25 in a mission mode, in order to bolster employment generation. The Minister also emphasized the importance of a robust mechanism to ensure that the benefits of the ELI Scheme reach the true beneficiaries.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, even after Japan's leading index weakened more-than-expected in June to the lowest level in more than a year. The preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, dropped to 108.6 in June from 111.2 in the previous month. The expected score was 109.3. Further, this was the lowest score since April 2023, when the reading was 108.5.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79320.13, up by 727.06 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 79106.28 and 79639.20. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 2.00%, while Small cap index was up by 1.88%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 3.74%, Energy up by 3.29%, Metal up by 3.00%, PSU up by 2.59% and Industrials up by 2.48%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.13%, JSW Steel up by 2.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.96%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.95% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.91%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.75%, Asian Paints down by 0.65%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.21% and Titan down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Automobile Dealers' Association (FADA) in its latest data has showed that electric vehicle sales registered a 55.2 per cent on-year growth at 1,79,038 units in July 2024 driven by a massive 96 per cent jump in e-two-wheeler sales. The total electric vehicles sales for July 2023 were at 1,16,221 units.

FADA stated that the electric two-wheelers sales in July stood at 1,07,016 units, up 95.94 per cent, from 54,616 units sold in July last year, while the electric three-wheeler sales grew 18.18 per cent at 63,667 units, from 58,873 units year earlier. The commercial vehicle sales during the reporting month were also on an upward trajectory, growing two-fold on a year-on-year basis to 816 units, from 364 commercial vehicles sold in July 2023. Passenger vehicles, however, declined 2.92 per cent at 7,541 units in July, as against 7,768 units in the same month of last year.

FADA President Manish Raj Singhania said the rising market share in the 2W and 3W EV segments for July 2024, with YoY growth rates of 95.94 per cent and 18.18 per cent respectively, and a market share of 7.4 per cent and 57.6 per cent, respectively for the month, is a clear indication of the growing acceptance and demand for electric vehicles in India. The PV segment, while showing a marginal year-on-year decline of 2.92 per cent, maintains a market share of 2.4 per cent, and the CV segment has shown remarkable growth with a year-on-year increase of 124.2 per cent and a current (July) market share of 1.02 per cent. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24254.45, up by 261.90 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 24184.90 and 24337.70. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 7.86%, Coal India up by 5.64%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.05%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.98% and BPCL up by 2.78%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.02%, Eicher Motors down by 0.76%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.67%, Asian Paints down by 0.62% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.22% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 218.73 points or 1.3% to 16,866.07, Jakarta Composite gained 70.88 points or 0.98% to 7,200.10, Shanghai Composite strengthened 4.34 points or 0.15% to 2,871.62, Straits Times rose 49.36 points or 1.52% to 3,247.80, KOSPI increased 46.26 points or 1.8% to 2,568.41, Nikkei 225 surged 414.16 points or 1.18% to 35,089.62 and Taiwan Weighted added 794.26 points or 3.73% to 21,295.28.