Bourses continue upward rally in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 800 and 200 points, respectively. Bankex, Auto and Telecom counters were on the priority list of the buyers. Sentiments remained largely positive, as Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its flagship Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2021 has stated that Indian economy is projected to grow at 11 per cent in the current financial year amid the ‘strong’ vaccine drive. Further, ADB said the economic growth in developing Asia is set to rebound to 7.3 per cent this year, supported by a healthy global recovery and an early progress on COVID-19 vaccines. The projected resurgence follows a 0.2 per cent contraction last year. Traders ignored domestic rating agency Brickwork Ratings in its latest report has revised downwards the country’s FY22 GDP growth projection to 9 per cent from an earlier estimate of 11 per cent. It said that the deadly second wave of COVID-19 has brought an abrupt halt to the country’s nascent economic recovery from the pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed ahead of Federal Reserve meeting. European markets were trading higher helped by positive corporate earnings, particularly in the banking sector, ahead of the conclusion of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49761.95, up by 817.81 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 49066.64 and 49776.44. 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 0.97%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.85%, Auto up by 2.16%, Telecom up by 1.53%, Consumer discretionary up by 1.46% and PSU was up by 1.36%, while Metal down by 0.71% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 7.96%, Indusind Bank up by 4.80%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.76% and ICICI Bank up by 3.15%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.67%, HCL Tech down by 0.40%, TCS down by 0.30% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries, the Cabinet has approved the signing and ratification of an Agreement between the Government of Republic of India and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters.

The agreement would provide a legal framework for sharing of information and intelligence between the Customs authorities of the two countries and help in the proper application of Customs laws, prevention and investigation of Customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade.

The draft text of the proposed Agreement has been finalized with the concurrence of the two Customs Administrations. The Agreement takes care of Indian Customs' concerns and requirements, particularly in the area of exchange of information on the correctness of the Customs value, tariff classification and origin of the goods traded between the two countries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14872.30, up by 219.25 points or 1.50% after trading in a range of 14694.95 and 14878.15. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 8.13%, Indusind Bank up by 4.84%, Eicher Motors up by 4.54%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.34% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.81%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.65%, Britannia down by 1.16%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.72%, Tata Steel down by 0.69% and Nestle down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 129.80 points or 0.45% to 29,071.34, Nikkei 225 surged 62.08 points or 0.21% to 29,053.97, Jakarta Composite soared 14.86 points or 0.25% to 5,974.48 and Shanghai Composite was down by 14.46 points or 0.42% to 3,457.07. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 0.05 points to 3,214.38, Taiwan Weighted dropped 28.37 points or 0.16% to 17,567.53 and KOSPI was down by 33.95 points or 1.06% to 3,181.47.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.13 points or 0.19% to 6,958.10, France’s CAC increased 18.31 points or 0.29% to 6,292.07 and Germany’s DAX was up by 29.63 points or 0.19% to 15,278.90.