Market benchmarks rally in early trade

Benchmark equity indices rallied in early trade on June 13 amid optimism in the U.S. markets and positive domestic macroeconomic data points.
| Photo Credit: Paul Noronha

Benchmark equity indices rallied in early trade on June 13 amid optimism in the U.S. markets and positive domestic macroeconomic data points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 300.79 points to 63,025.50 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 82.7 points to 18,684.20.

From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Titan, Nestle, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Infosys, and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and HCL Technologies were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were trading in the green, while Shanghai quoted lower.

The U.S. markets ended in positive territory on June 11.

“Markets may usher in gains in early June 12 trade amid a sharp rally in overnight U.S. markets even though Asian gauges are trading mixed. Markets are growing hopeful about the U.S. economy and the interest-rate picture, and are counting on a pause in interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

“Fed’s decision to pause on interest rates hinges on the inflation data to trickle in later today,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-opening market comment.

Retail inflation declined to a 25-month low of 4.25% in May, mainly on account of softening prices of food and fuel items.

This is the fourth straight month when retail inflation has declined and the third straight month of Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remaining within the RBI’s comfort zone of below 6%.

India’s industrial production growth rose to 4.2% in April from 1.7 per cent in March 2023, mainly due to good performance by the manufacturing and mining sectors, according to official data released on Monday.

“The domestic support to the market comes from strong economic cues. The May CPI inflation at 4.25% and IIP at 4.2% are better than expected. The decline in inflation is a big positive from the market perspective since it opens up possibilities of a rate cut by the end of 2023,” V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.72% to $72.36 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹626.62 crore on June 12, according to exchange data.

The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 99.08 points or 0.16% to settle at 62,724.71 on June 12. The Nifty advanced 38.10 points or 0.21% to end at 18,601.50.