Benchmarks trade fine fettle in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in late afternoon session, following strong cues from European markets. Traders were seen piling up positions in Power, Capital Goods and Utilities sector while selling was witnessed only in Energy sector stocks. Traders remain energized after Niti Aayog Vice Chairman -- Rajiv Kumar has said India will transform into a middle-income country from a lower middle-income economy by 2030. He also said that India will witness a recovery in investment cycle by April 2021 and India will make strong efforts to improve its trade at the global level. Sentiments remained positive even after Moody's Investors Service, in its June update to Global Macro Outlook (2020-21), has projected that the Indian economy to shrink 3.1% in 2020 and said clashes with China on the border also suggest rising geopolitical risks in the Asian region where countries are particularly vulnerable to changes in geopolitical dynamics.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher despite some concerns over the state of the U.S.-China trade deal, and a surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. and elsewhere. Back home, sector wise, banking stocks remained in focus as Fitch Ratings revised the outlook on the Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of nine Indian banks to Negative from Stable.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35196.58, up by 285.26 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 34843.69 and 35306.38. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.40%, while Small cap index was up by 1.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 3.51%, Capital Goods up by 3.17%, Utilities up by 2.76%, Realty up by 2.75% and Industrials was up by 2.46%, while Energy down by 1.05% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 5.40%, Larsen & Toubro up by 5.26%, NTPC up by 4.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.82% and Power Grid up by 3.61%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.44% and HDFC down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in its significant step to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM.

As per the notification, sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the country of origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same.

GeM has also enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products. With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items. Besides, the ‘Make in India’ filter has now been enabled on the portal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10419.45, up by 108.25 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 10301.75 and 10432.20. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.68%, Indusind Bank up by 5.53%, Hindalco up by 5.16%, NTPC up by 4.72% and Zee Entertainment up by 4.57%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.16%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.32%, Grasim Industries down by 0.13% and HDFC down by 0.11% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 52.76 points or 0.84% to 6,297.38, France’s CAC increased 73.06 points or 1.48% to 5,021.76 and Germany’s DAX was up by  250.36 points or 2.04% to 12,513.33.