Bourses trade with notable gains in volatile session

In a highly volatile session, Indian equity bourses were trading with notable gains in late afternoon deals, tracking firm European markets. The street took some comfort with Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal’s statement that there is far more space on the monetary side than the fiscal front for lifting sagging economic growth. Sentiments also remained positive, amid reports that the finance ministry is working on one more booster dose to give a leg-up to the economy that has hit over six-year low of 5 per cent.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Germany's economic sentiment improved strongly and at a faster-than-expected pace in September, after a slump in August, but the economic outlook remains negative. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany climbed to -22.5 from -44.1 in August. However, Asian market were trading mixed.

Back home, coal sector stocks were in watch, as the Centre is in the process of formulating a National Coal Index, in the wake of the government's decision to allow foreign direct investment and open up coal sector to commercial mining.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36612.53, up by 131.44 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 36465.92 and 36712.99. There were 22 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.55%, Realty up by 1.39%, PSU up by 1.19%, Oil & Gas up by 1.13% and Bankex up by 0.78%, while Telecom down by 0.40% and TECK down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.02%, Vedanta up by 2.82%, SBI up by 2.74%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.10% and Axis Bank up by 1.80%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.12%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.07%, Sun Pharma down by 0.65%, Infosys down by 0.65% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, being optimistic about Indian healthcare sector, the Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Sadananda Gowda has said that the sector is expected to record a threefold rise, at a CAGR of 22 per cent during 2016-2022 to reach $372 billion in 2022 from $110 billion in 2016.

The Minister is also expecting the industry to employ 40 million by 2020. He further underlined that the country is one of the largest exporters of pharmaceuticals and is the only country with largest number of USFDA compliant Pharma plants (more than 262 including APIs) outside of USA.

Gowda also listed the facts like India accounts for 20 per cent of global exports in generics, India’s pharmaceutical exports stood at $17.27 billion in 2017-18 and expected to reach $20 billion by 2020 and in 2018-19 these exports are expected to cross $19 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10860.45, up by 42.85 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 10804.85 and 10885.15. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 4.89%, Tata Steel up by 3.87%, Vedanta up by 2.89%, SBI up by 2.66% and JSW Steel up by 2.50%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 3.06%, Coal India down by 2.53%, ONGC down by 2.08%, UPL down by 1.69% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 54.95 points or 0.51% to 10,929.45, Jakarta Composite soared 27.39 points or 0.44% to 6,264.08, Shanghai Composite gained 10.13 points or 0.34% to 2,988.25 and KOSPI rose 8.40 points or 0.41% to 2,070.73. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 9.63 points or 0.04% to 26,780.61, Straits Times trembled 12.04 points or 0.38% to 3,170.96 and Nikkei 225 was down by 40.61 points or 0.18% to 21,960.71.

All European markets were trading in green; FTSE gained 14.23 points or 0.19% to 7,334.63, CAC rose 3.40 points or 0.06% to 5,618.91 and DAX was up by 5.85 points or 0.05% to 12,378.46.