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Markets extend opening gains in early deals
May-21-2025

Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start on Wednesday, after having suffered heavy losses in the previous session, amid supportive global cues from Asian counterparts. Soon, markets gained traction and are trading higher with over half a percent gains in early deals, led by buying in healthcare stocks. Traders took note of report that Indian health authorities have dismissed fears of a major Covid-19 resurgence despite a fresh wave sweeping parts of Asia, particularly Singapore and Hong Kong. Market participants overlooked report that the output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to an eight-month low of 0.5 per cent in April due to contraction in the production of crude oil, refinery products and fertiliser.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as some traders are still looking to cash in on the strong upside in the markets seen over the past several weeks. Meanwhile, two US Fed officials signaled that interest rates are likely to remain on hold until at least September due to a murky economic outlook.

Back home, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has reduced gas-based power generation capacity to 20.13 gigawatt (GW) at the end of April from 24.53 GW in March. In stock specific development, Tejas Networks traded higher as it received a Rs 1,525 crore order from TCS for the BSNL 4G rollout project.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81683.19, up by 496.75 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 81255.73 and 81702.82. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.39%, Capital Goods up by 0.92%, Auto up by 0.87%, Industrials up by 0.84%, Realty up by 0.68% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.43% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.27%, HDFC Bank up by 1.18%, Nestle up by 1.14% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.89%, Eternal down by 0.81%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.54% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to become a developed nation by 2047, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said India requires a five per cent annual growth rate in agriculture and allied sectors. Chouhan highlighted that foodgrain is grown on 93 per cent of farmland, but the growth is just 1.5 per cent. He added ‘We are working towards bridging the yield gap in crops and achieving a national average yield.’

The minister expressed confidence that the five per cent annual growth rate is achievable, emphasising that various agricultural institutes play a key role in this endeavour. He said ‘Research plays a very important role in increasing agricultural production and reducing costs. Our target is to maintain an annual agricultural growth rate of 5 per cent. Our effort is that all the research institutions work in one direction to achieve the goals’.

He noted that the agriculture and allied sector must achieve $1 trillion for India to become a $5 trillion economy. He also stressed the need to enhance farm exports to 20 per cent from the current level of six per cent. On research and development, the minister said that currently, 0.4 per cent of agriculture GDP is invested in innovation and research.

He pitched for better utilisation of natural resources for agriculture as land holdings are expected to decline to 0.6 hectare by 2047 from the current level of 1.18 hectare. He also called for better utilisation of germ plasm. He said ‘We currently have 4.5 lakh germ plasm, out of which 5 per cent is used. We need to raise this.’ The minister mentioned that short, mid, and long-term plans will be chalked out after brainstorming with agricultural institutions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24842.05, up by 158.15 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 24692.65 and 24844.30. There were 42 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 3.30%, Sun Pharma up by 1.83%, Cipla up by 1.59%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.52% and HDFC Bank up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 1.66%, Indusind Bank down by 1.00%, Eternal down by 0.79%, Hindalco down by 0.49% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted jumped 233.41 points or 1.08% to 21,759.44, Hang Seng surged 113.41 points or 0.48% to 23,794.89, Jakarta Composite rose 50.11 points or 0.71% to 7,144.71, KOSPI increased 27.62 points or 1.06% to 2,629.42 and Shanghai Composite added 13.01 points or 0.38% to 3,393.49. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slipped 98.41 points or 0.26% to 37,431.08 and Straits Times was down by 13.8 points or 0.36% to 3,868.70.
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