Bourses back in green

Indian bourses erased all of their losses in late afternoon session to come back in green terrain, tracking firm European markets. Traders were taking support from Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement that India's macroeconomic fundamentals are quite strong and its economy is currently growing at the fastest pace in the world. Some support also came with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the Centre will announce two more big steps in the coming days to give momentum to industry. She said the government has decided to increase spending and has announced a slew of measures to arrest the sluggishness in the automobile market.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after New Zealand consumer confidence improved slightly in August. The survey data from ANZ showed that the ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index rose 2 points to 118 in August. The current conditions index rose 1 point to 127 and the future conditions index gained 2 points to 112. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, coal stocks were in watch, after Fitch Solutions Macro Research said that India will overtake China as the largest importer of coking coal by 2025.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37144.63, up by 75.70 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 36829.81 and 37318.99. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.45%, Metal up by 1.03%, Healthcare up by 0.90%, Realty up by 0.69% and Basic Materials up by 0.50%, while PSU down by 1.44%, Power down by 1.23%, Oil & Gas down by 1.16%, Energy down by 1.02% and Utilities down by 0.96% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.83%, Vedanta up by 2.65%, Tata Steel up by 2.19%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.13% and ITC up by 1.91%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.00%, HCL Tech down by 2.78%, ONGC down by 2.76%, NTPC down by 1.71% and SBI down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid talks of a slowdown in economic activity, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that Indian macroeconomic fundamentals are quite strong and economy is currently growing at the fastest pace in the world.

Amit Shah further noted that in the last five years, the government has managed to keep the inflation rate below 3 per cent. Besides, he said that the fiscal deficit (gap between expenditure and revenue), which was at 5 per cent, has come down to 3.5 per cent.

Union Home Minister also highlighted growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. Shah further noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India should grow to be the third most advanced country in economic terms and for that the government is moving ahead with micro planning.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10957.75, up by 9.45 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 10874.80 and 11024.85. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.84%, Vedanta up by 2.47%, Tata Steel up by 2.29%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.07% and ITC up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.47%, Bharti Infratel down by 3.19%, Power Grid down by 3.03%, HCL Tech down by 3.00% and ONGC down by 2.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 gained 243.44 points or 1.19% to 20,704.37, Straits Times rose 9.49 points or 0.31% to 3,091.32, Taiwan Weighted increased by 155.62 points or 1.49% to 10,618.05, KOSPI advanced 34.38 points or 1.78% to 1,967.79 and Jakarta Composite soared 25.54 points or 0.41% to 6,314.66.On the flip side, Shanghai Composite fell 6.49 points or 0.22% to 2,884.43 and Hang Seng was down by 53.56 points or 0.21% to 25,649.94.

All European markets were trading in green; FTSE gained 41.93 points or 0.58% to 7,226.25, CAC rose 42.49 points or 0.78% to 5,492.46 and DAX was up by 120.36 points or 1.02% to 11,959.24.