Equity markets add gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added gains in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. HDFC, Bajaj Finance and Indusind Bank were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Traders remained energized with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government is making efforts to deregulate the economy with an aim to attract greater investments from across the world. He said the government has opened up defence, manufacturing, mining, finance and capital market sectors. Adding some optimistic, SBI Research scaled up its projections for the economy, projecting gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 7.4 per cent during the current financial year compared to its earlier forecast of a 10.9 per cent fall. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed buoyed by hopes the U.S. Congress may finally deliver fresh aid to help American businesses and families weather the pandemic. European markets were trading higher, as traders react positively to comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it will continue to support the economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46962.65, up by 296.19 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 46627.60 and 46992.57. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.84%, Healthcare up by 0.68%, Capital Goods up by 0.61%, Bankex up by 0.58% and Energy was up by 0.52%, while Metal down by 0.47%, FMCG down by 0.37%, Utilities down by 0.29%, Oil & Gas down by 0.29% and Auto was down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.90%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.50%, Indusind Bank up by 1.88%, HDFC Bank up by 1.58% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.10%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.04%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.77%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.63% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining efforts being taken to further reduce compliance burden for industry, Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Guruprasad Mohapatra has said that reforms like reduction in corporate taxes and introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) under taken by the government have created a solid footing to boost investments into the country.

DPIIT Secretary further said that foreign direct investment (FDI) into India is booming, even in the times of COVID-19, and expressed hope that this growth would continue. He also added that certain reforms are like ‘unpalatable medicines’ but they are needed.

While talking about India, Japan trade, he said the bilateral trade ''is not of the volume that we would expect such close allies to have''. There are lot of work to be done on both the sides on that front and ''I hope that we will be working very closely and we will see lot of improvements on that.''

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13763.90, up by 81.20 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 13673.55 and 13773.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divis Lab up by 3.07%, HDFC up by 2.86%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.32%, Indusind Bank up by 2.15% and HDFC Bank up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.39%, Power Grid down by 1.12%, Adani Ports down by 1.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.97% and Coal India down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted dropped 45.53 points or 0.32% to 14,258.93, Straits Times trembled 11.28 points or 0.39% to 2,861.52, Jakarta Composite lost 5.02 points or 0.08% to 6,113.38 and KOSPI was up by 1.36 points or 0.05% to 2,770.43. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 37.89 points or 1.13% to 3,404.87, Nikkei 225 surged 49.27 points or 0.18% to 26,806.67 and Hang Seng was up by 218.09 points or 0.82% to 26,678.38.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 25.66 points or 0.39% to 6,596.57, France’s CAC increased 29.74 points or 0.54% to 5,577.42 and Germany’s DAX was up by 143.18 points or 1.06% to 13,709.16.