Market Recap: Nifty Inches Up, Economy Steady at 6.5-7% Growth, and Key Sector Developments on the Horizon

Market Summary

The benchmark Nifty index rose by 0.17% to close at 24811.5 on 22-Aug. The Nifty Midcap150 index rose by 0.66% to close at 21760.3. The Nifty Smallcap250 index rose by 0.32% to close at 17984.4. The 10yr yield rose by 1 bps to close at 6.9%.
The rupee lost 0.06% to close at 83.95 against the US Dollar.

Key News

* The finance ministry has maintained a positive stance on the economy, keeping the growth forecast at 6.5-7% for the current financial year ahead of the release of GDP figures for the April-June quarter, reports BS
* India’s steel sector’s tech investment likely to hit $2.7 billion by 2030, reports
Moneycontrol
* The Union government is likely to halt the sale of sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) because they are “complex and expensive”, a top government official said, reports
BS
* Railway freight up 5% in Q1; freight charges to come down to maintain growth rates, reports FE
* Formal job creation under the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation went up by 6.9% to 2.16 million in June this year compared to 2.02 million in June 2023, reports
ET
* The manufacturing PMI dropped to 57.9 in August from 58.1 in July, while the services PMI rose to 60.4 from 60.3 in the previous month, reports FE
* The tussle over 6 GHz spectrum band between the telecom operators and technology firms, has led the department of telecommunications to delay its allocation to either, reports FE
* State-backed network Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) launched a credit facility that enables customers to access fully digital and paperless loans, reports FE