Sensex, Nifty trade higher with marginal gains amid value buying

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Tuesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight as well as weakness in Asian counterparts dragged by the tumbling Hong Kong market. Traders also reassessed their expectations for the outlook on interest rates after upbeat US jobs data. Escalating tensions in the Middle East is also weighing on market sentiment. The situation in the Middle East is escalating, with Hezbollah launching rockets at Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city. As Israel prepares to intensify its military operations in Lebanon, fears of a broader regional conflict are mounting.

At this point of trade, Sensex and Nifty are trading higher with marginal gains amid value buying. Some support came with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India is poised to attract $100 billion in investments from the United Arab Emirates in the coming years. Separately, he also said it is time for the Indian rupee to appreciate on the back of inflows in debt and equity markets. Investors are keeping a close eye on the counting of votes for assembly elections in the state of Haryana and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. 

On the sectoral front, alcohol beverages stocks are in focus as a report by rating agency ICRA stated that alcoholic beverages (alcobev) companies in India are expected to report a revenue growth of 8 to 10 per cent in this financial year supported by a revival in consumption of spirits. In stock specific development, Tata Motors traded under pressure as JLR posts 3% decline in Q2 retail sales.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81280.88, up by 230.88 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 80813.07 and 81293.33. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.19%, Bankex up by 1.09%, Capital Goods up by 0.93%, Industrials up by 0.77% and Healthcare up by 0.47%, while Metal down by 2.03%, IT down by 0.65%, Basic Materials down by 0.59%, TECK down by 0.40% and Consumer Durables down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.89%, SBI up by 1.53%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.28% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.83%, JSW Steel down by 2.95%, Tata Motors down by 2.10%, Titan Company down by 1.48% and HCL Technologies down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and the UAE will set up a food corridor with an expected investment of $2 billion which will cater to the UAE market and beyond and help Indian farmers earn higher income and create more jobs. Goyal said that a small working group comprising central government, state governments involved and the UAE has also been set up to take forward the establishment of food corridor between the two countries on a mission mode basis.

The minister said that around $2 billion is the initial commitment that UAE has made to invest in the food processing industry and the food park logistics that can be required to move the material to the UAE. Stating that this investment is expected to happen in the next two-and-a-half-year period, he said ‘But the overall investment is also a factor of the opportunities that Indian businesses are able to offer.’ 

He further said it has been under discussion for a very long time that the UAE would like to invest in setting up food processing facilities in India to enable the availability of high-quality products suitable to the UAE, using Indian farmers' products and to be sold in the UAE. This matter has been under discussion for quite some time with the UAE Government coming, and with different states in India. He said ‘Now, we are looking at progressing them faster to make sure that investments in food processing can come up in India with UAE investors and the UAE Market along with other Gulf markets’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24879.20, up by 83.45 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 24756.80 and 24879.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 1.71%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.51%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.27%, HDFC Bank up by 1.22% and SBI up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.20%, JSW Steel down by 2.99%, Tata Motors down by 2.31%, Hindalco down by 2.06% and Titan Company down by 1.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 1289.78 points or 5.58% to 21,810.00, Nikkei 225 slipped 487.2 points or 1.24% to 38,845.54, Taiwan Weighted lost 135.39 points or 0.6% to 22,567.17 and KOSPI dropped 12.94 points or 0.5% to 2,597.44. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite strengthened 160.32 points or 4.58% to 3,496.82, Jakarta Composite gained 12.46 points or 0.17% to 7,516.60 and Straits Times was up by 0.05 points or 0% to 3,599.24.