Sensex, Nifty gain traction to trade at day’s high

Indian equity benchmarks gained traction in late afternoon deals to trade at day’s high points, mirroring firm European markets. Traders got comfort with a report that the digital payment system that has been developed in India not only allows big tech companies to participate in it but also has convenience, ease of use, low cost and financial inclusion. Adding some optimism, capital markets regulator SEBI reconstituted its Primary Market Advisory Committee (PMAC) that advises it on policy framework, development of initial public offerings and other such segments.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as the euro area trade surplus increased in August on falling imports. The data from Eurostat revealed that the trade surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 20.3 billion in August from EUR 17.5 billion in July. Exports grew 0.4 percent from the previous month, while imports declined 1.2 percent in August. However, Asian markets were trading in red.

Back home, realty sector stocks were in focus, amid report that the real estate market sentiment index has declined to the level seen during demonetisation and is expected to remain pessimistic for next six months, despite several measures taken by the government and RBI to boost demand in the sector.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38959.16, up by 360.17 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 38557.43 and 39010.73. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.57%, Auto up by 1.37%, Consumer Disc up by 1.27%, FMCG up by 1.05% and PSU up by 1.02%, while Telecom down by 0.23%, Basic Materials down by 0.13%, Metal down by 0.12% and IT down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 16.28%, Indusind Bank up by 4.69%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.49%, SBI up by 3.30% and Tata Motors up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.47%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.29%, HCL Tech. down by 0.95%, TCS down by 0.77% and ONGC down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining unemployment as the country's biggest problem, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has expressed the need for policy measures to create jobs in rural areas and check migration to cities for employment. He also called for a detailed study to find out ways to skill people in tribal, agriculture and rural sectors and pointed out that skilled manpower was the biggest requirement in the country.

The minister further noted that the country's MSME sector has huge potential to create new job opportunities and there is a need to identify the areas where people can be skilled and given jobs. He highlighted several facts and figures like country's total 29 per cent growth/GDP comes from MSME sector, 49 per cent export is from MSME sector, till now 11 crore employment opportunities have been created.

Besides, Nitin Gadkari asked big companies across sectors to run skill development programmes and hire people according to their skills and suggested some ideas that can help create jobs in the country. He also said that there is need to find out ways to provide people job opportunities in their villages so they don't need to leave their homes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11554.60, up by 90.60 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 11439.65 and 11565.30. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 15.96%, Eicher Motors up by 5.42%, Indusind Bank up by 4.63%, SBI up by 3.26% and Zee Entertainment up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.60%, Grasim Industries down by 1.40%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.31%, HCL Tech. down by 1.03% and TCS down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 21.06 points or 0.09% to 22,451.86, Straits Times trembled 18.83 points or 0.6% to 3,115.88, Shanghai Composite declined 8.21 points or 0.28% to 2,970.50 and KOSPI fell 4.89 points or 0.23% to 2,077.94. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 12.24 points or 0.2% to 6,181.83, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 24.05 points or 0.22% to 11,186.88 and Hang Seng increased 119.08 points or 0.45% to 26,783.36.

All European markets were trading in green; FTSE gained 34.51 points or 0.48% to 7,202.46, CAC rose 0.15 points or 0.01% to 5,697.05 and DAX was up by 20.73 points or 0.16% to 12,690.84.