Indices at day`s high; European shares advance

The benchmark indices traded near the day`s high with modest gains in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded a tad below the 16,600 mark. Barring the Nifty Auto index, all the other sectoral indices on the NSE advanced.

At 13:36 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 378.82 points or 0.69% to 55,674.31. The Nifty 50 index gained 110.80 points or 0.67% to 16,594.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.38% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.21%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,650 shares rose and 1,556 shares fell. A total of 165 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday cut the global growth outlook and warned that the world may soon be on the brink of a recession. Global economic expansion will likely slow to 3.2% this year, slower than the 3.6% forecast by the fund in April, the IMF said. The outlook for India has been revised down by 0.8% point, to 7.4%. For India, the revision reflects mainly less favourable external conditions and more rapid policy tightening, IMF stated. For emerging market and developing economies, the negative revisions to growth in 2022-23 reflect mainly the sharp slowdown of China`s economy and the moderation in India`s economic growth.

Gainers & Losers:

Larsen & Toubro (up 2.73%), Grasim (up 2.60%), Divi`s Laboratories (up 2.52%), Indusind bank (up 2.10%) and Sun Pharma (up 2.02%) were major Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Auto (down 1.64%), Bharti Airtel (down 1.53%), Bajaj Finserv (down 1.04%), Kotak Bank (down 0.97%) and NTPC (down 0.37%) were majority Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Larsen & Toubro rose 2.73% after the company reported 45% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1702 crore on 22% rise in total revenue to Rs 35853 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. The company secured orders worth Rs 41,805 crore at the group level during the quarter ended June 30, 2022, registering a growth of 57% over corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Tata Power Company fell 3.74%. On a consolidated basis, Tata Power Company`s net profit jumped 90% to Rs 884 crore on 43% increase in net sales to Rs 14,495.48 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22.

Dr. Reddy`s Laboratories rose 1.29% after the company announced the launch of Bortezomib for Injection, 3.5 mg single-dose vial in the U.S. market. The Bortezomib Injection is the generic equivalent of Velcade (bortezomib) Injection.

Axis Bank rose 1.85% after the Competition Commission of India has given approval to Axis Bank and Citi Bank deal. Axis Bank has decided to acquire Citibank`s India consumer business from Citibank N.A. and the NBFC consumer business from Citicorp Finance (India).

Global Markets:

The Dow Jones futures were up 154 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stock market today.

Shares in Europe advanced while Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday. Investors looked forward to the Fed`s policy decision. At the end of its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to raise its main interest rate by 0.75 percentage points.

US stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday as a profit warning by Walmart dragged down retail shares and exceptionally weak consumer confidence data also fueled fears about spending.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India for the current financial year by 80 basis points to 7.4%. A similar downgrade has been made to the growth forecast for FY24, which now stands at 6.1% as against 6.9% earlier.

"For India, the revision reflects mainly less favourable external conditions and more rapid policy tightening," the IMF said on July 26 in an update to its World Economic Outlook report.

The IMF on Tuesday cut its global GDP forecasts for 2022 and 2023. It now expects growth to come in at 3.2% this year, 0.4 percentage points lower than its April projection.

German consumer sentiment is expected to slide to a record low in August as fears about diminishing gas supplies compound pressures from supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.

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