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Rising for fourth consecutive day, Indian equity benchmarks ended Wednesday’s session with gains of over a percent, led by strong buying in IT, TECK and Metal stocks amid positive global market sentiments. Key gauges made positive start and stayed in green for whole day, as traders took encouragement with Finance ministry’s statement that the economy is on course to achieve projected 8-8.5 per cent growth based on high-frequency indicators for the first quarter of the current fiscal. Traders also found some solace from Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth’s statement that the rupee is managed well and there is nothing to be 'overtly' worried about the depreciation in the domestic currency against the US dollar. Sustained buying by FIIs also aided the sentiment in the markets. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers for the second day running on Dalal Street. FIIs pumped in Rs 976 crore on July 19.

Markets extended gains in afternoon deals, taking support from the commerce and industry ministry stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the research and development sector have increased to $343.64 million in 2021 against $55.77 million in 2020. Traders also took a note of Rajya Sabha informed that cases of frauds on public sector banks have come down by about 50 per cent in FY'22 to 2,369 as against 4,680 recorded in the previous fiscal. The amount involved in the frauds too declined to Rs 3,204 crore from Rs 7,306 crore in 2020-21. Market participants overlooked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in its latest data showed that investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes (P-notes) declined to Rs 80,092 crore till June-end, making it the lowest level in 20 months, on aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower even as energy supply worries eased following a report that Russian gas supplies would resume as scheduled, while Italian Premier Mario Draghi's parliament address was also in focus amid a political crisis. Asian markets settled higher on Wednesday following the broadly positive cues from the global markets, amid fading concerns about an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve at its upcoming monetary policy meeting later this month. Optimism about upcoming earnings news is also aiding market sentiment, with a majority of the US companies beating expectations so far this season.

Back home, oil industry stocks were in focus as India has cut a windfall tax on diesel and aviation fuel shipments by 2 rupees a liter. Stocks related to auto sector were in watch as Minister of State for Skills and Development Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the automobile sector in India will create at least 1 crore jobs for youth over the next 5-6 years. Telecom sector stocks were buzzing, as the central government has extended the last date for submission of applications for design-led manufacturing under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking products up to August 05, 2022. The registration process started on June 21, 2022. The last date for submission of the application was fixed as July 20, 2022.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 629.91 points or 1.15% to 55,397.53 and the CNX Nifty was up by 180.30 points or 1.10% to 16,520.85. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 55,630.26 and 55,298.23, respectively. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.58%, TECK up by 1.99%, Metal up by 1.35%, FMCG up by 1.13%, Energy up by 0.91% while, Telecom down by 0.50%, Power down by 0.50%, Utilities down by 0.44%, Realty down by 0.34%, Auto down by 0.31% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.84%, HCL Technologies up by 3.08%, TCS up by 2.89%, Reliance Industries up by 2.47% and SBI up by 2.13%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.81%, Sun Pharma down by 0.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.48%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.40% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the economic condition of the country, Finance Ministry has said that the economy is on course to achieve projected 8-8.5 per cent growth based on high-frequency indicators for the first quarter of the current fiscal. Minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said ‘since then, sustained growth momentum has been observed in several High Frequency Indicators (HFIs), indicating that the projected growth path is on course in the first quarter of FY 2022-23’.

In order to ensure continued growth momentum, he said the government has taken several steps to address high inflation imported from abroad. He said these include cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel and special excise duty/cess on the export of petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel that are likely to alleviate inflationary pressures. Further, to rein in inflation, he said RBI in its June Monetary Policy Committee meeting hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points, on top of the earlier hike of 40 basis points in May 2022.

On the impact of geopolitical tension on Indian economy, he said, Russia-Ukraine war has led to global supply disruptions resulting in steep increase in global commodity prices, including prices of crude oil, gas, edible oils and fertilizers, among others. He highlighted that the government is closely monitoring the global price movements and their impact on India’s economy through trade.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 16,588.00 and 16,490.95. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.71%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.60%, TCS up by 2.82%, HCL Technologies up by 2.79% and Reliance Industries up by 2.54%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.99%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.82%, Sun Pharma down by 1.13%, Eicher Motors down by 1.07% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.81%.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.64 points or 0.08% to 7,290.64, France’s CAC decreased 6.16 points or 0.1% to 6,195.06 and Germany’s DAX decreased 19.61 points or 0.15% to 13,288.80.

Asian markets settled higher on Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and better-than-expected earnings from more US companies for the past quarter offsetted concerns about inflation and interest-rate hikes. Meanwhile, markets also welcomed the news that Russia's Gazprom would resume gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline this week, albeit at reduced capacity. Japanese shares gained ahead of Bank of Japan policy decision this week, though market is expected to keep its policy unchanged. Seoul shares advanced as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen started her two-day visit to South Korea. Moreover, Chinese and Hong Kong shares gained after an official pledge to support economic recovery from the Covid-19 fallout.

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