Indices remain under grip of bulls in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained under a tight grip of bulls in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty extending their gains to trade near their intraday high points. Positive cues from other Asian markets were helping key indices to maintain their gaining rally in late morning deals. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices were too holding their strong gains. Domestic sentiments remained positive, as India's exports during the first week of September jumped 13.35 per cent year-on-year to 6.12 billion dollars. At the same time, imports declined by 21.37 per cent to 6.85 billion dollars. Consequently, the deficit during September 1 to 7 worked out to 730 million dollars.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the total value of core machine orders in Japan gained a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent on month in July, coming in at 751.3 billion yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 1.9 percent following the 7.6 percent decline in June. On a yearly basis, core machine orders dropped 16.2 percent - also beating forecasts for a fall of 18.3 percent after tumbling 22.5 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38723.92, up by 530.00 points or 1.39% after trading in a range of 38367.07 and 38731.84. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.99%, while Small cap index was up by 1.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 3.51%, Oil & Gas up by 2.14%, Bankex up by 1.77%, Realty up by 1.61% and PSU up by 1.52%, while Metal down by 0.39% and Consumer Durables down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.92%, Axis Bank up by 3.18%, SBI up by 3.08%, Indusind Bank up by 2.82% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.60%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.05%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.64%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.59%, HCL Tech down by 0.55% and Tata Steel down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over economic revival, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said banks are going to be the catalysts for economic revival. She said at this stage, the catalysts for economic revival, the catalysts who have the pulse of every one of their customers, are banks. The minister further said banks have to introspect on their core business and also focus on welfare.

She added that ‘You don’t forget your core activity, which is lending and making money out of it and that is a legitimate activity. You will do that and also being public sector, do some things which are welfare related as announced by the government’. She emphasised that even private sector banks will have to contribute towards implementation of government schemes. She said all bank staffers should know the details of government schemes which are to be implemented through the lenders.

Sitharaman said ‘It is your duty to know about the schemes that the government passes to customers through you. I would want to be sure that your staff at every level has at least some idea of what are the government schemes being passed through you to citizens’. She added this awareness is going to make banks more accessible to customers who want to avail those schemes. Also, this awareness is going to make banks more accessible to customers who want to avail those schemes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11420.35, up by 142.35 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 11327.40 and 11423.70. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 4.56%, SBI up by 3.31%, Axis Bank up by 3.19%, Indusind Bank up by 3.02% and BPCL up by 2.76%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.97%, Hindalco down by 1.91%, UPL down by 1.34%, Titan Company down by 1.23% and JSW Steel down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 150.89 points or 0.66% to 23,183.43, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 54.36 points or 0.43% to 12,662.94, KOSPI rose 24.86 points or 1.05% to 2,400.67, Hang Seng increased 9.76 points or 0.04% to 24,478.69 and Shanghai Composite gained 9.56 points or 0.29% to 3,264.19. On the other hand, Straits Times trembled 11.01 points or 0.44% to 2,488.32 and Jakarta Composite lost 251.27 points or 4.88% to 4,898.11.