The frontline indices continued to trade in a narrow range with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 22,700 level. Oil & gas shares advanced after declining in the past trading session. Trading could be a volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 284.09 points or 0.38% to 74,767.93. The Nifty 50 index added 91.65 points or 0.41% to 22,696.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.89% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.40%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,004 shares rose and 1,703 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Despite falling from 59.1 in March to 58.8 in April, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) signalled the second-best improvement in the health of the sector for three-and-a-half years. The PMI was comfortably above both the neutral mark of 50.0 and its long-run average (53.9).

The Indian manufacturing sector started the first fiscal quarter in a high gear, according to the latest HSBC PMI data. . Firms experienced a sharp upturn in new business intakes, and scaled up production accordingly.

April's rise in raw material stocks was supported by a further increase in buying levels. Inputs were purchased to the greatest degree since June 2023. Another factor that facilitated this was suppliers' ability to deliver items in a timely manner. Vendor performance improved for the second straight month.

Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC, said: “On the price front, higher costs of raw materials and labour led to a modest uptick in input costs, but inflation remains below the historical average. However, firms passed these increases onto consumers through higher output charges, as demand remained resilient, resulting in improved margins.'

Meanwhile, the Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit a record high in April 2024 at Rs 2.10 lakh crore. This represents a significant 12.4% year-on-year growth, driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions (up 13.4%) and imports (up 8.3%). After accounting for refunds, the net GST revenue for April 2024 stands at Rs 1.92 lakh crore, reflecting an impressive 15.5% growth compared to the same period last year.

In the month of April, 2024, the central government settled Rs 50,307 crore to CGST and Rs 41,600 crore to SGST from the IGST collected. This translates to total revenue of Rs 94,153 crore for CGST and Rs 95,138 crore for SGST for April, 2024 after regular settlement.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 7.05% to 13.78. The Nifty 30 May 2024 futures were trading at 22,775.85, at a premium of 79.35 points as compared with the spot at 22,696.50.

The Nifty option chain for the 30 May 2024 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25.3 lakh contracts at the 23,500 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 34.2 lakh contracts were seen at 22,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index gained 1.05% to 11,950.40. The index shed 0.61% in the past trading session.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (up 7.54%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (up 4.05%), Petronet LNG (up 3.56%), Indian Oil Corporation (up 2.87%), Oil India (up 0.86%), Adani Total Gas (up 0.84%), Reliance Industries (up 0.51%) and Mahanagar Gas (up 0.22%) advanced.

On the other hand, Aegis Logistics (down 5.17%), GAIL (India) (down 2.08%) and Indraprastha Gas (down 1.67%) edged lower.

Adani Total Gas rose 0.84%. The natural gas distribution company’s standalone net profit jumped 58.6% to Rs 165.34 crore in Q4 FY24 as against Rs 104.25 crore recorded in Q4 FY23. Revenue from operations (excluding excise duty) rose 4.61% year on year (YoY) to Rs 1,165.95 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Maruti Suzuki India shed 0.11%. The car manufacturer announced that its total production increased 16.99% to 169,751 units in April 2024 as against 145,096 units recorded in April 2023.

Adani Power shed 0.21%. The power generation company reported 47.8% fall in net profit to Rs 2,737 crore in Q4 FY24 from Rs 5,242 crore in Q4 FY23. Continuing revenue from operations increased by 27.3% YoY to Rs 13,288 crore in the fourth quarter. The company had recorded revenues of Rs 10,436 crore in Q4 FY23.