Sensex, Nifty remain higher in early afternoon

Indian equity benchmarks remained higher during early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, on the back of buying at Realty and Consumer Durables counters, despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. JSW Steel gained the most among major industry players on the BSE. Sentiments remained upbeat, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report has showed that India’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) commitments surged 33.93% to $2915.16 million in July 2024 as against $2176.67 million in July 2023. Sequentially also, they rose from $2189.96 million in June 2024. Outbound FDI, expressed as a financial commitment, comprises three components: equity, loans, and guarantees.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as traders were reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of key US inflation data later in the week. Markets continued to recover from recent sell-off sparked by concerns about the world's largest economy slipping into a recession. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79938.07, up by 232.16 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 79226.13 and 80106.18. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.93%, Consumer Durables up by 0.80%, IT up by 0.74%, Metal up by 0.54% and Bankex up by 0.51%, while Utilities down by 1.00%, Power down by 0.52%, PSU down by 0.36%, Energy down by 0.21% and FMCG down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 1.76%, Infosys up by 1.68%, Axis Bank up by 1.50%, HDFC Bank up by 1.35% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.05%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.10%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.82%, SBI down by 0.98%, Power Grid down by 0.91% and Nestle down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exhorted banks to focus on their core business and explore new ways to attract deposits, as household savings are increasingly shifting towards alternate investment products. She said both RBI and the government have been asking banks to focus on their business activity and they should be aggressive in deposit mobilisation and then lend. That is the core activity of banks.

Stressing that banks should give emphasis on collecting deposits, Sitharaman said RBI has given them some liberty in managing the interest rates. She said using that liberty, they should make deposits attractive, bring innovative products and mobilise deposits. She also urged bankers to shun lazy banking and focus on small savers rather than big or bulk deposits. 

The minister said ‘trickles (small savings) are going to be your bread and butter, money to bank on… that trickle which was the emphasis long back, which kept nothing for the other side (big deposits). Now we’ve (banks) gone to the other side completely. Now they are chasing bulk deposits to meet their targets’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24427.10, up by 59.60 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 24212.10 and 24472.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.09%, JSW Steel up by 1.80%, Infosys up by 1.73%, Axis Bank up by 1.66% and HDFC Bank up by 1.45%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.14%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.93%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.80%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.51% and Adani Enterprises down by 1.45% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 14.82 points or 0.09% to 17,105.05, Jakarta Composite gained 0.34 points to 7,257.34, KOSPI increased 29.87 points or 1.14% to 2,618.30 and Taiwan Weighted added 304.26 points or 1.4% to 21,773.26, while Shanghai Composite weakened 3.99 points or 0.14% to 2,858.20 and Straits Times fell 27.82 points or 0.85% to 3,234.01.