Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday tracking Friday’s gains on Wall Street amid April-June quarter (Q1) results announcements on domestic front. Markets have soon trimmed some of their gains but are trading higher in early deals led by gains in Oil & Gas, Auto and IT stocks. Foreign fund inflows aided sentiments in the domestic markets. The Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) in the Indian equity market increased by Rs 7,390 crore during the second week of July, according to investment data from the National Securities Depository. The data also pointed out that the net investment by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in July has increased to Rs 15,352 crore. Traders took encouragement as the government data showed that the industrial output growth surprised in May rising to a seven month high of 5.9 percent from 5 percent in the previous month, as manufacturing and electricity production soared. Some support also came as income tax department said India's net direct tax collections grew 19.54 percent to Rs 5.74 lakh crore till July 11 in the current financial year as compared to Rs 4.80 lakh crore in FY24 in the corresponding period. However, some cautiousness came in as India’s retail inflation rose to four-month high of 5.08 percent in June compared with 4.75 percent in the previous month as food inflation galloped to 9.4 percent given the impact of heatwave on vegetables. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly lower despite rising prospects of an interest rate cut by the US Fed as early as September after data showed an unexpected drop in US consumer price inflation in the month of June. Traders also looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the recent slump in the markets. Back home, port and shipping sector stocks are in focus as the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) approved a research proposal on Valorization of Dredged Sediments. According to a statement by the ministry on Saturday, the project has been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 46,47,380. In stock specific development, HCL Technologies soared after reporting a 20 percent rise in quarterly profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80640.38, up by 121.04 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 80587.42 and 80809.80. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.88%, Auto up by 0.77%, IT up by 0.61%, Healthcare up by 0.58% and Energy up by 0.54%, while Realty down by 0.73%, Capital Goods down by 0.44%, Industrials down by 0.40%, Utilities down by 0.30% and Power down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.89%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.16%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.14%, Tata Motors up by 0.94% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.24%, Tata Steel down by 0.95%, Axis Bank down by 0.56%, Power Grid Corp down by 0.47% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India's exports have recorded healthy growth in May and remained in the positive zone in June and the first quarter of the current fiscal despite global challenges. He also said that growth in the services sector is helping the country's outbound shipments to register positive growth rates.

He stated ‘In May, exports were positive, the figure for June is also positive. The first quarter is also in the positive territory.’ He added that the services sector has received a boost from the government's Digital India mission. He noted the roll-out of 4G and 5G in the country too is helping the services exports of India.

India's merchandise exports rose 9.1 per cent to $ 38.13 billion in May. During April-May this fiscal, the outbound shipments grew by 5.1 per cent to $ 73.12 billion. He said ‘Despite the ongoing two wars (Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas), the Red Sea crisis, and container shortage issues, our exports are in a positive zone. One more advantage that we have is the fast pace growth in the services exports.’

Last month, he stated that India's goods and services exports are expected to cross $ 800 billion this fiscal despite global challenges. In 2023-24, the shipments stood at $ 778.2 billion (goods $ 437.1 billion and services $ 341 billion).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24554.65, up by 52.50 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 24522.75 and 24598.00. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.94%, ONGC up by 1.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.69%, Shriram Finance up by 1.16% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 1.72%, Asian Paints down by 1.26%, Tata Steel down by 0.88%, LTIMindtree down by 0.59% and Axis Bank down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 254.82 points or 1.41% to 18,038.56, Taiwan Weighted fell 90.29 points or 0.38% to 23,826.64, KOSPI decreased 2.10 points or 0.07% to 2,854.90, Jakarta Composite weakned 28.48 points or 0.39% to 7,299.10 and Straits Times was down by 0.42 points or 0.01% to 3,497.36, while Shanghai Composite was up by 3.18 points or 0.11% to 2,974.48.