Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in green in morning deals led by gains in FMCG, Power and Capital Goods stocks. Traders took support with Fitch Ratings’ statement that India remains committed to reducing the budget deficit over the medium term, despite its focus on higher public capex and demands of the coalition government. In a report, it said India has achieved or outperformed its budget deficit targets in the last few years, thereby improving its fiscal credibility. Some support also came as exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,208.23 crore on Tuesday. However, gains remain capped as some concern came with a private report stating that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to soften to 6.7% in FY25, below the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast of 7.2% and downside risks to its FY26 GDP forecast of 7.2% as growth signals are currently mixed. On the Asian markets are trading mostly in red due to lingering concerns surrounding U.S. and Chinese growth. Traders also remained cautious ahead of key U.S. inflation readings due this week that could impact the outlook for rates, including the pace of rate cuts. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82058.52, up by 137.23 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 81741.65 and 82083.39. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.86%, Power up by 0.83%, Capital Goods up by 0.69%, Healthcare up by 0.63% and Industrials up by 0.43%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.00%, Auto down by 0.64%, Energy down by 0.59%, Realty down by 0.50% and Metal down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.98%, ITC up by 0.93%, Sun Pharma up by 0.89% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.26%, NTPC down by 0.21%, JSW Steel down by 0.19% and HDFC Bank down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Road Transport Highways, Nitin Gadkari has said that India will soon be in a position to export lithium-ion batteries. The Union Minister said ‘I am confident that we’ll be in a position to export lithium-ion batteries to the different parts of the world. At the same time, the research is going on. The aluminium, ironic oil, and different types of chemistry. I feel that it is also a good thing and there is a huge market for that.'

Gadkari said with government initiatives and incentives many Indian companies are venturing into lithium-ion battery manufacturing. He stated ‘The good thing is that lithium-ion manufacturing is now Adani, Tata, Maruti, LG, and Samsung. They are all coming in this business. Because…Take the example of semiconductors the government adopted is such a good policy because of that after 2 three years we will be the number one in the manufacturing of the semiconductors in the world.'

Further, Gadkari stated that India’s EV market is expected to grow to one crore units of annual sales by 2030 and will create five crore jobs. Indian EV market has the potential to become Rs 20 lack crore by 2030. He asked the industry to focus on quality, better designs, and use the latest technology if they want to compete in the segment and boost exports. Consumers are now conscious of quality.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25086.85, up by 45.75 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 24981.30 and 25091.25. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.56%, Asian Paints up by 1.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.07%, ITC up by 0.99% and Sun Pharma up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.30%, ONGC down by 2.38%, Hindalco down by 1.49%, Wipro down by 0.80% and LTIMindtree down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 213.97 points or 1.24% to 17,020.12, Jakarta Composite plunged 7.82 points or 0.1% to 7,753.57, Shanghai Composite weakened 21.3 points or 0.78% to 2,722.89, KOSPI dropped 21.78 points or 0.86% to 2,501.65 and Nikkei 225 slipped 749.43 points or 2.07% to 35,409.73.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 0.45 points or 0% to 21,064.53 and Straits Times rose 13.93 points or 0.4% to 3,526.60.