Equity markets climb in early trade on foreign fund inflows

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| Photo Credit: Reuters

Benchmark equity indices extended their rally for the third day running on July 12, driven by continuous foreign fund inflows and buying in Reliance Industries. Rally in the U.S. markets on July 11 also helped equity indices maintain their winning run.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 193.8 points to 65,811.64 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 68.3 points to 19,507.70.

From the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, ITC and State Bank of India were among the major gainers. IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Asian Paints were the major laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying momentum as they bought equities worth ₹1,197.38 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the green while Tokyo and Shanghai quoted lower. The U.S. markets ended in the positive territory on Tuesday.

“Markets may log steady gains in early trade on Wednesday thanks to a sharp upsurge in the overnight U.S. markets. With Asian indices, too, witnessing strong gains, local indices could advance further, even as concerns of the market being in an overbought position looms.

“Investors will focus on inflation numbers set to be announced later in the day, while IT majors TCS and HCL Tech would set the tone with their Q1 results, which could give some indication of the global IT sourcing scenario and the outlook on the same,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Limited, said in his pre-opening market comment.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.18% to $79.54 a barrel. The BSE benchmark had advanced 273.67 points or 0.42% to settle at 65,617.84 on Tuesday. The Nifty climbed 83.50 points or 0.43% to end at 19,439.40.

“Even after the recent run up in markets, sentiments are clearly bullish. Global and domestic cues are positive. If the U.S. CPI data expected late today indicates YoY inflation dipping below 3%, the U.S. market will rally further lifting other markets, too,” said V. K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.