Firm trade prevails in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade firm in afternoon session on sustained buying activities by both funds and retail investors. Buying in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Metal stocks helped markets to trade higher. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers. Sentiments got boost with White House top economic advisors’ statement that the worldwide rage against Chinese products and the US tech giants such as Google and Facebook announcing to invest billions of dollars in India indicate that people’s trust in China is fading away while India emerges as a bigger competitor. Support also came with report that investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the domestic capital market surged to Rs 62,138 crore till June-end, rising for third consecutive month.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as China's better-than-expected GDP data fuelled worries over the pace of policy easing, while foreign investors turned to sell shares after a torrid bull run. Back on street, in scrip specific development, BPCL surged as global oil giants are showing interest in company and Central Bank of India gained on planning to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore equity capital.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36677.54, up by 205.86 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 36512.92 and 36764.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.02%, while Small cap index was up by 1.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.63%, Consumer Durables up by 2.58%, Metal up by 2.05%, PSU up by 1.93% and Telecom was up by 1.79%, while IT down by 0.83%, and TECK was down by 0.36% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.74%, Tata Steel up by 3.53%, Titan Company up by 3.21%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.17% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.23%, TCS down by 1.22%, Infosys down by 1.08%, Indusind Bank down by 0.63% and Nestle was down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh has said that India has the potential to become a magnet for digital innovation by focusing on areas such as talent, policy framework and trust. She said the country will have to focus on building competencies in these three areas that will be critical in the ‘hyper digital economy’. She noted that the first one is digital talent and added that India has an absolute advantage on that.

Ghosh has stated that the right policy framework would also be important. She also said ‘it's not just leveraging the talent, it's about ensuring we have the right policy framework to take the risk, to try out new things, it's about ensuring ease of doing business. If we are innovating, how quickly can we safeguard our innovation, how easy is it to file a patent in India. A lot of these things will have to be looked at’.

Nasscom President further said that India also has to really focus on trust because trust is going to be such an important pillar of a contactless digital economy. She said ‘everything you do will depend on whether you trust the person/company on the other side. I think Indian companies, especially our IT services companies, have done well on trust. How do we expand that to other segments.’ She added that Nasscom and the government are working together to launch one of the largestever publicprivate partnerships on digital skilling.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10815.75, up by 75.80 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 10749.65 and 10835.10. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 7.44%, Bharti Infratel up by 4.45%, ONGC up by 3.74%, Tata Steel up by 3.69% and JSW Steel was up by 3.36%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.38%, Infosys down by 1.21%, Axis Bank down by 1.14%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.99% and Nestle was down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 73.94 points or 0.32% to 22,696.42, Straits Times trembled 1.65 points or 0.06% to 2,622.02, Shanghai Composite declined 0.18 points or 0.01% to 3,209.92 and Jakarta Composite was down by 17.77 points or 0.35% to 5,080.60

On the other side; KOSPI rose 17.43 points or 0.8% to 2,201.19, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 23.82 points or 0.2% to 12,181.56 and Hang Seng was up by 141.64 points or 0.57% to 25,112.33.