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Indian equity benchmarks extended early gains to continue firm trade in the afternoon session, mainly due to sustained buying by investors and domestic financial institutions, also positive cues from other Asian markets kept supporting the markets. Investors mounted more bullish bets amid IIP data for May witnessed strong over 29 per cent growth on base effects, while second wave impact made it to see 14 per cent contraction compared to May 2019. Hence, policy support is still much needed to spur economic activities in coming months, and RBI will continue to maintain its accommodative policy in the medium term. Appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 74.47 per dollar in noon deals as against the Monday’s close of 74.58 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. However, traders paid no heed toward report where Indian Medical Association (IMA) expressed concern over the laxity of the government and the people and large gatherings without following the COVID-19 protocols. Also, IMA said that these incidents could become the main reason for the third wave of the pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as China's exports grew much faster than expected in June, as solid global demand led by easing lockdown measures and vaccination drives worldwide eclipsed virus outbreaks and port delays. Back on street, the overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1848:1232; while 153 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52722.42, up by 349.73 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 52545.68 and 52731.37. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.23%, Metal up by 0.79%, Auto up by 0.60%, PSU up by 0.58% and Basic Materials was up by 0.56%, while IT down by 0.16%, FMCG down by 0.14% and TECK was down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.65%, Sun Pharma up by 2.46%, NTPC up by 2.29%, Axis Bank up by 2.27% and HDFC was up by 1.80%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.46%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.37%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.33% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased marginally to 6.26 per cent in the month of June 2021 over 6.30 per cent in May 2021. Though, this is the second successive time that the CPI data has come over the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent. Prior to this, the CPI came below the 6 per cent mark for five consecutive months. The government has asked the central bank to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its data has showed that the Rural CPI (General) in June stood at 6.16 per cent as against 6.55 per cent in May. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 6.37 per cent in June as against 5.9 per cent in May. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 162.1, 160.4 and 161.3, respectively, in June 2021. The marginal slippage in the CPI-based inflation was noticed despite little firmness witnessed in the food inflation. The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket, inched slightly higher on-month during June to 5.15 per cent, from 5.01 per cent in May.

The hike in the food basket was mainly due to a sharp rise in prices of oils and fats which surged 34.78 per cent on year in June. Apart from this, the egg prices segment saw a rise of 19.35 per cent while that of fruits gained 11.82 per cent and pulses and products rose 10.01 per cent. Non-alcoholic beverages climbed 14.71 per cent. On the other hand, the vegetables segment slipped (-) 0.70 per cent and cereals and products declined (-) 1.94 per cent. Apart from food and beverages, the fuel and light segment rose 12.68 per cent in June, while clothing and footwear gained 6.21 per cent and the housing segment inched up 3.75 per cent.

The price data are collected from representative and selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of June 2021, NSO collected prices from 99.6% villages and 98.6% urban Markets while the Market-wise prices reported therein were 78.7% for rural and 82.0% for urban.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15787.00, up by 94.40 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 15744.60 and 15797.40. There were 37 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.66%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 2.54%, Axis Bank up by 2.28%, NTPC up by 2.25% and HDFC up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.97%, HCL Tech. down by 1.05%, Tata Consumer Produc down by 0.94%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.46% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; KOSPI rose 26.59 points or 0.82% to 3,273.06, Nikkei 225 surged 149.22 points or 0.52% to 28,718.24, Shanghai Composite gained 12.64 points or 0.36% to 3,560.48, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 33.19 points or 0.19% to 17,847.52, Straits Times advanced 21.72 points or 0.69% to 3,168.86 and Hang Seng was up by 448.87 points or 1.63% to 27,964.11. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 7.88 points or 0.13% to 6,070.69.

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