After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets continued the momentum as the session progressed and ended on a firm footing.

Equity benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 ended with gains of over 1% each on Wednesday.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 875 points (up 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 305 points (up 1.3%).

ONGC, Coal India, and Adani Ports were among the top gainers today.

HUL, Eicher Motors, and Titan, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 24,371 up by 326 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended 2.7% higher and the BSE SmallCap index ended 2.4% higher.

All other Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with socks in the oil & gas sector, metal sector, and energy sector witnessing the most buying.

Shares of Cera Sanitary, Colgate, and Ajanta Pharma hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 83.95 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.1% higher at Rs 69,015 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices were trading 0.4% lower at Rs 79,311 per 1 kg.

Here are five reasons why Indian Markets are rising today

#1 US Recession Fear Ease

Fears of an imminent US recession had also faded a little as the run of economic data still pointed to solid economic growth in the current quarter.

The Atlanta Fed's much-watched GDPNow estimate is that gross domestic product is running at an annual pace of 2.9%. This resilience in the U.S. economy is positive for global equity markets.

#2 BOJ's Stability Assurance

Bank of Japan (BOJ) Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida announced on Wednesday that the central bank will refrain from raising interest rates during periods of financial market instability. This statement helped ease concerns about potential tightening in the monetary policy.

The reassurance from the BOJ is seen as a positive signal for global equity markets, as it indicates a more cautious approach to rate hikes.

#3 Domestic Buying

Domestic institutional investors (DII) continued their buying spree on Tuesday, purchasing equities worth Rs 33.6 bn. This follows their earlier purchase of Rs 91.6 bn on Monday.

#4 US Market

Indian stocks also mirrored gains from the U.S. market, which closed sharply higher on Tuesday as investor sentiment improved after recent comments by Federal Reserve officials eased recession fears.

#5 Oil Price Dip

Oil prices slipped in early Asian trading on Wednesday following a brief rebound in the previous session after industry data showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories, offsetting global oil supply concerns.

Brent crude futures fell 21 cents, or 0.27%, to $76.27 a barrel.
 

Gland Pharma Nosedives 9%

In news from the pharma sector, Gland Pharma dived around 9% in early trade on 7 August after the company reported dismal earnings for the fiscal first quarter.

The drugmaker's net profit slipped 26% on-year to Rs 1.4 bn in the April-June quarter, largely due to lower milestone income.

Revenue rose 16% to Rs 14 bn against Rs 12.1 bn in the year-ago period. Despite that, Gland Pharma's operational performance took a hit.

Its EBITDA margin contracted 5.5% on year to 18.9%, which Nomura believes was due to lower revenue growth and milestone income.

In addition, Gland Pharma's wholly owned subsidiary, CDMO player Cenexi continued to make EBITDA losses post its acquisition in January 2023.

Looking ahead to Q2 of FY25, Gland Pharma anticipates reduced activity levels, particularly for Cenexi, due to the European holiday season and planned summer maintenance shutdowns.

This includes an extended three-week shutdown at the Fontenay plant for the installation of a new ampoule line.

Gland Pharma also expects a gradual ramp-up in Cenexi revenue in towards the last quarter of FY25, although FY26 should see normalization of revenue back to the 50 million euro quarterly run-rate.

Despite these challenges, Gland Pharma is actively working to revive its biologics-based contract manufacturing business, build a robust product pipeline for the US market, and enhance the scale and profitability of Cenexi.

Favourable regulatory developments at the industry level are also expected to boost the company's business prospects, MOFSL believes.

ONGC Stock Surges 8%

Moving on to news from the oil & gas sector, shares of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation surged over 8% on 7 August after the company raised its production guidance for FY25.

ONGC's management projects a 12% increase in total crude oil production, reaching 23.1 million metric tonnes, and a 27% rise in gas production, reaching 25.9 million metric tonnes by FY27.

This growth will be driven by the KG-98/2 and Daman upside development. The company announced it will begin gas production from the KG-98/2 asset in the fourth quarter of FY25.

The oil major reported a 15% year-on-year decline in standalone net profit to Rs 89.4 bn, while revenue rose 4% to Rs 352.7 bn in Q1 of FY25.

Crude oil realization increased to $83.05 per barrel from US$ 76.36 in the previous year. Total crude oil production slightly decreased to 5.23 million metric tonnes, and total gas production declined by 4% to 4.86 billion cubic meters.

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