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Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Heavy buying at Auto and FMCG counters helped key indices to hold gaining momentum. Sentiments remained optimistic as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Centre is committed to improve trade facilitation for every stakeholder, including Customs Department personnel and those involved in the trading communities. She said beyond construction of a new building, these days emphasis is also given on how energy-efficient the buildings would be so that there is no pollution or disturbance to anyone.

Adding more optimism among traders, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council in its 48th meeting has decided to reduce GST on husk of pulses including chilka and concentrates including chuni/churi, khanda from 5% to nil. GST on ethyl alcohol supplied to refineries for blending with motor spirit (petrol) was also cut down to 5% from 18%. Besides, the GST Council unveiled measures for facilitation of trade and measures for streamlining compliances in GST.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Hong Kong's unemployment rate declined in the three months ended November with unemployment falling across almost all the major economic sectors. The latest labor force statistics from the Census and Statistics Department revealed that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7 percent in the September to November period from 3.8 percent in the August to October period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61623.13, up by 285.32 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 61265.31 and 61710.18. 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 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.21%, FMCG up by 1.19%, PSU up by 0.45%, Metal up by 0.42% and Energy up by 0.37%, while IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.32% and Healthcare down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.41%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.94%, Power Grid up by 1.85%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.61% and ITC up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.10%, Infosys down by 0.93%, TCS down by 0.64%, Wipro down by 0.62% and Sun Pharma down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Naren Goenka has said that apparel exports rose by 11.7 per cent to about 1.2 billion in November 2022 after declining for the last few months amid global challenges. He said that exports of ready-made garments (RMG) from India witnessed a rough patch in the past few months since most of the traditional markets such as the UK, the EU and the US have been witnessing recession and global headwinds, leading to falling demand in these countries.

Goenka said inflation and rising costs of raw material and freight, aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war, added to the burden of exporters. However, after a few months of slip, RMG exports have again turned positive signalling the resilience of the industry to adjust to the prevailing challenges. He also said that ‘the target for apparel exports for 2022-23 is $17.6 billion against which we have been able to achieve more than $10 billion during April - November 2022.’

AEPC has flagged certain issues with the government, the resolution of which will help in increasing exports. It said the major issues include early announcement of the production-linked incentive scheme for apparel, extension of ATUFS (Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme), RoSCTL (Rebate of State and Central Levies and Taxes) disbursements through bank transfer, and one time relaxation on account of bankruptcy / insolvency / discounting / cancellation of export orders.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18365.75, up by 96.75 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 18244.55 and 18383.65. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.26%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.00% and Power Grid up by 1.92%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.21%, BPCL down by 0.92%, Infosys down by 0.90%, TCS down by 0.73% and Sun Pharma down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 172.78 points or 0.89% to 19,277.89,  Taiwan Weighted dropped 95.23 points or 0.66% to 14,433.32, Shanghai Composite declined 71.41 points or 2.25% to 3,096.45, KOSPI fell 7.85 points or 0.33% to 2,352.17, Jakarta Composite lost 29.04 points or 0.43% to 6,783.15 and Nikkei 225 slipped 289.48 points or 1.05% to 27,237.64, while Straits Times advanced 14.04 points or 0.43% to 3,254.85.

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