Bourses trade fine fettle in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading in fine fettle in late afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of over half a percent. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading in green. Traders took support after India’s High Commissioner to Singapore P Kumaran has said Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between India and Singapore is likely to touch $21 billion in financial year 2020-21. Kumaran further said that it is very encouraging despite the pandemic. Good performances by both sides under extremely stressful circumstances. Sector wise, residential realty sector remained in focus, as ratings agency Crisil has said although the market is growing in 2021-22, a full recovery in the residential realty sector is expected only in 2024. According to it, the country’s housing market is expected to grow by 5-10 per cent in the current fiscal year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, with a weak U.S. dollar and bargain hunting providing a boost. Traders are optimistic about a global economic recovery from the pandemic after a drop in US initial jobless claims to a new pandemic-era low. European markets were trading higher to end a broadly upbeat week, with traders welcoming another forecast-beating reading on US jobless claims that reinforced optimism about the recovery in the world’s top economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51,452.02, up by 336.8 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 51258.69 and 51529.32. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 4.14%, Oil & Gas up by 1.30%, Metal up by 1.13%, Telecom up by 0.87% and Basic Materials was up by 0.37%, while Healthcare down by 0.58%, Auto down by 0.51%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46%, Power down by 0.42% and Utilities was down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 5.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.53%, HDFC up by 1.35%, ONGC up by 1.30% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.83%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.51%, Nestle down by 1.45%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.30% and ICICI Bank down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost export potential of India’s agricultural and processed food products during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has organised the second virtual trade fair (VTF) for horticultural produce.

The three days VTF (May 27-29, 2021) display India’s unique fruits, vegetables and floricultural products sourced from various regions for the global importers. There are more than 471 exhibitors or exporters have displayed their products in the virtual platform. 543 numbers of visitor /importers have registered their participation in the VTF.

Because of COVID-19 related restrictions on physical travel and trade, APEDA has initiated the concept of VTF for sustaining India’s agricultural and processed food products exports and also exploring new markets for expanding export footprints.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,446.00, up by 108.15 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 15394.75 and 15469.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 5.76%, Grasim Industries up by 4.13%, Adani Ports up by 3.61%, Coal India up by 2.11% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.80%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.41%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.28%, Titan Company down by 1.23% and Nestle down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 600.40 points or 2.1% to 29,149.41, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 269.25 points or 1.62% to 16,870.86, KOSPI rose 23.22 points or 0.73% to 3,188.73, Straits Times advanced 22.26 points or 0.7% to 3,187.08, Hang Seng increased 11.21 points or 0.04% to 29,124.41 and Jakarta Composite was up by 6.79 points or 0.12% to 5,848.62. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.07 points or 0.22% to 3,600.78.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.83 points or 0.35% to 7,044.50, France’s CAC increased 23.90 points or 0.37% to 6,459.61 and Germany’s DAX was up by 69.06 points or 0.45% to 15,475.79.