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Marking the second straight day of gains, Indian equity benchmarks ended with gains of over half percent on Monday amid strong gains in realty, Metal and Banking stocks. Domestic indices witnessed a gap-up opening and maintained the levels in morning deals, as sentiments got a boost as India recorded the highest-ever exports of $95 billion during April-June, up 85 per cent Y-o-Y and 18 per cent higher than the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019-20. The merchandise exports grew 47 per cent Y-o-Y to $32.46 billion in June, driven by a robust demand of engineering goods, petroleum products, and gems and jewellery in the external markets. Some optimism also came with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the government has been proactive in responding to the challenges caused by COVID-19 and is also taking up substantial reforms despite the pandemic. Besides, in reversal of a two-month selling trend, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in June turned out to be net buyers by investing Rs 13,269 crore in Indian markets.

Headline indices added some gains in late afternoon session, taking support from Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India has set a target of $400 billion merchandise exports for 2021-22 (FY22).  He mentioned ‘In collaboration with private industry, MSME sector, engineering, agriculture, automobile, steel sector, we have set an export target of $400 billion. We all will work together to achieve this target.’ Further, he said India's economy is growing and exports are also growing. Market participants paid no heed towards a private survey showed activity in India's dominant services sector contracted sharply in June as tighter restrictions to contain a resurgence of coronavirus cases hammered demand and forced firms to shed jobs at a rapid clip. IHS Markit's Services Purchasing Managers' Index plunged to 41.2 last month from an already depressed 46.4 in May. That was its lowest reading since July 2020 and well below the 50-level separating growth from contraction. 

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed on Monday, while European markets were trading mostly in red, as rising cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus as well as growing worries about China's crackdown on local tech companies offset investor optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve would adhere to its accommodative policies. Back home, on the sectoral front, there was some reaction in oil & gas industry stocks as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ruled out any cut in excise duty levied on petroleum products for now. She said that there is no such proposal at the present to reduce prices of petroleum. Stocks related to pharmaceutical industry were in watch as ratings agency ICRA in its latest report has said that revenue growth of some of the leading drugs firms is estimated at 7-9 percent in FY2022 and 8-11 percent in FY2023, with gradual improvement in the COVID-19 situation in the country.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 395.33 points or 0.75% to 52,880.00, while the CNX Nifty was up by 112.15 points or 0.71% to 15,834.35.      

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 52,919.17 and 52,604.35, respectively and there were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.     

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.84%, Metal up by 1.49%, Bankex up by 1.13%, Basic Materials up by 1.01% and Finance up by 0.99% while, Power down by 0.29% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.84%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.47%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.38% and Axis Bank up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.34%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.65%, HCL Technologies down by 0.44%, Titan Company down by 0.20% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India has set a target of $400 billion merchandise exports for 2021-22 (FY22).  He mentioned ‘In collaboration with private industry, MSME sector, engineering, agriculture, automobile, steel sector, we have set an export target of $400 billion. We all will work together to achieve this target.’ Further, he said India's economy is growing and exports are also growing.

He stated India recorded the highest ever exports in the first quarter of April-June 2021. The highest ever merchandise export in a quarter of $95 billion has been achieved from April to June despite the severity of the second wave of COVID-19. He added ‘Despite COVID-19, we have achieved the highest ever FDI inflow of $81.72 billion in 2020-21. FDI inflow of $6.24 billion in April 2021 is 38 per cent higher than in April 2020.’

Besides, he said startups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) have gone up to 50,000 across 623 districts. He said ‘with these startups nearly 1.8 lakh formal jobs have been created by over 16,000 recognised startups in 2020-21. Several times more have benefited from the startup ecosystem. We have established a fast track mechanism for granting patents to the startup sector.’ He said there are enough avenues of facilitation without giving subsidies. India has competitive advantages and also offers comparative advantages for the world market.’ Referring to e-commerce policy, he said the government has recently announced e-commerce rules under the Consumer Protection Act.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 15,845.95 and 15,762.05 and there were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.80%, ONGC up by 2.36%, SBI up by 2.19%, Tata Steel up by 1.98% and Coal India up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.58%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.40%, BPCL down by 0.64%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.62% and HCL Technologies down by 0.52% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 18.88 points or 0.27% to 7,142.15 and France’s CAC decreased 0.16 points or 0% to 6,552.70, while Germany’s DAX decreased 32.82 points or 0.21% to 15,617.27.

Asian markets ended mixed on Monday on worries about rising cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus globally. Japanese shares settled lower amid reports that the Japanese government is potentially keeping the quasi-state of emergency covering Tokyo in place during the Summer Olympics. Shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group plunged 5.39% after Chinese regulators claimed SoftBank-backed Didi illegally collected users’ personal data and ordered app stores to stop offering Didi’s app. However, Chinese shares finished higher after a survey showed the country's service sector expanded at a much slower pace in June. The Caixin/ Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index for June came in at 50.3, a significant decline from May’s reading of 55.1.

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