11 Oct 2023

Domestic indices to extend previous session’s gains; TCS earnings eyed

Indian markets recovered sharply and ended with hefty gains on Tuesday as investors shrugged off Israel-Hamas war concerns amid bond yields cooled off globally. Today, domestic indices are likely to extend previous session’s gains and open in green amid supportive cues from global peers. Traders continue to take support with report that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its India’s GDP growth forecast for the current financial year by 20 basis points (bps) to 6.3%, mainly due to stronger-than-expected consumption during April-June quarter. Some support will come as the Ministry of Finance said India's gross direct tax collection increased by 17.95 per cent on the year to Rs 11.07 lakh crore in the period from April 1 to October 9. Traders may take note of a private report that in order for India to become the biggest driver for global growth, even overtaking China, it would need to target an 8 percent growth. Besides, India and the UK are likely to sign a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in the last week of this month. Meanwhile, in what could be a shot in the arm for prospective investors and private players in India's space tech ecosystem, the Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the country's space regulator, estimates the size of the Indian space economy to be around $44 billion, including $11 billion of exports over the next 10 years. However, some cautiousness may come as foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,005.49 crore on October 10, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed. IT companies are likely to be in focus as TCS kicks-off the Q2 earnings season, and the board will also be considering a proposal for share buyback. There will be some reaction in NBFCs stocks as the Reserve Bank said the strict supervisory norms under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework will apply to government-owned non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) from October 2024. There will be some buzz in oil & gas industry stocks as a medium-term forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed that India’s natural gas demand is set to grow by 4 per cent in 2023 and rise at an average annual rate of over 8 per cent till 2026.

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday as dovish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials pushed Treasury yields lower. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks rebounded sharply after previous session slide and gained nearly a percent on Tuesday on the back of a rally in Realty, Metal and Telecom stocks. Markets made a gap up opening and continued to inch higher throughout the day following global stocks amid easing US rate concerns. Traders got encouragement as the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data showed the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas declined to 6.6 per cent during April-June 2023 from 7.6 per cent a year ago. Meanwhile, a private report stated that a pick-up in private investment is an imperative for driving India’s growth. The report said with the government trying to bring down the fiscal deficit and the likelihood of subsidy bills going up, public capex-which seems to have led to the uptick in real-investment growth recently-may come down. Markets extended gains in late afternoon deals and traded near their intraday high points, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its 2023-24 GDP growth forecast for India for the second time in three months, taking it closer to the 6.5 percent predicted by Indian authorities. Some optimism also came with private report stating that Indian retail inflation likely eased to 5.50% last month (September), within the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tolerance band, on moderating food price rises and government subsidies that offset a surge in the cost of crude oil. Traders took a note of reports that India and Saudi Arabia have decided to promote investments in each other’s country in the new and renewable energy sector. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Saudi Arabia in the fields of Electrical Interconnections, Green / Clean Hydrogen and Supply Chains was signed. Traders overlooked the provisional data available on the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 997.76 crore on October 9, 2023. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 566.97 points or 0.87% to 66,079.36 and the CNX Nifty was up by 177.50 points or 0.91% to 19,689.85.