Bourses near day’s high points

Indian equity bourses extended their gains in late afternoon session to trade near their intraday high points, aided by positive opening of European markets. Following the larger peers, the broader indices too maintained their gaining momentum in late noon deals.  Market participants remained optimistic, amid reports that the Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut key policy rates by 25 basis points, taking the benchmark repo rate to 5.50 percent.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Germany's factory orders rebounded at a faster than expected pace in June. The data from Destatis showed that factory orders grew 2.5 percent month-on-month in June, reversing a revised 2 percent drop in May. The pace of growth also exceeded the expected rate of 0.5 percent. However, Asian markets were trading in red.

Back home, stocks related to the coal sector remained in watch, as the government has begun the process of auction of 27 coal mines and allotment of 15 blocks to public sector undertakings. Besides, e-commerce sector also remained in focus, after the Department of Consumer Affairs released draft guidelines for e-commerce firms. The ministry has sought views of stakeholders on the draft guidelines on e-commerce by September 16.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37164.90, up by 465.06 points or 1.27% after trading in a range of 36536.59 and 37241.77. There were 25 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.41%, while Small cap index was up by 1.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.90%, Telecom up by 2.33%, Industrials up by 2.04%, Basic Materials up by 1.94% and Realty up by 1.86%, while Energy down by 0.10% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 4.01%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.85%, Yes Bank up by 3.33% and Bajaj Finance up by 3.19%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.97%, TCS down by 0.79%, Tata Motors down by 0.61%, Reliance Industries down by 0.51% and ONGC down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to protect the interest of consumers, the Department of Consumer Affairs has released draft guidelines for e-commerce firms. The ministry has sought views of stakeholders on the draft guidelines on e-commerce by September 16.

As per draft guidelines, e-commerce companies should not directly or indirectly influence the price of the goods or services and ‘maintain a level playing field.’ The companies should not adopt any unfair methods, falsely represent themselves as consumers, post reviews about goods and services in their name or exaggerate the quality of goods and services.

The proposed guidelines also entail a 14-day deadline to effect refund request, mandate e-tailers to display details of sellers supplying goods and services on their websites and moot the procedure to resolve consumer complaints.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10987.25, up by 124.65 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 10813.80 and 11018.55. There were 39 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 6.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.83%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.82%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.43% and Hindalco up by 3.36%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 5.48%, Cipla down by 3.69%, TCS down by 1.41%, Wipro down by 1.07% and Power Grid down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 275.88 points or 1.05% to 25,875.44, Taiwan Weighted dropped 28.66 points or 0.27% to 10,394.75, Shanghai Composite declined 50.45 points or 1.79% to 2,771.05, Straits Times trembled 24.44 points or 0.77% to 3,170.07, KOSPI fell 29.48 points or 1.51% to 1,917.50, Jakarta Composite lost 51.87 points or 0.84% to 6,123.83 and Nikkei 225 was down by 134.98 points or 0.65% to 20,585.31.

All European markets were trading in green; FTSE gained 3.32 points or 0.05% to 7,227.17, CAC rose 33.91 points or 0.65% to 5,275.46 and DAX was up by 53.50 points or 0.46% to 11,712.01.