Bourses continue gaining momentum in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their gaining momentum in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters.  The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading above half a percent. Sentiments remained upbeat after SBI Research in its latest report has said that if there is no third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the fiscal position of the Centre and the states will be much better than budgeted for FY22 and the states may garner Rs 60,000 crore more in tax collections at Rs 8.27 lakh crore this fiscal year than they have budgeted. Traders ignored Retailers Association of India (RAI) in its latest survey report has showed that retail sales in India slipped 79 per cent in May compared to pre-COVID sales in the same month of 2019, as businesses across states were closed due to the second wave of the pandemic. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after Japan's industrial production increased more than estimated in April. European markets were trading higher as investors await the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52846.86, up by 295.33 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 52671.29 and 52869.51. There were 20 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.05%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.02%, Bankex up by 0.87%, Oil & Gas up by 0.72% and Industrials was up by 0.68%, while Power down by 0.52%, Healthcare down by 0.49% and Utilities was down by 0.26% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.04%, Axis Bank up by 1.59%, ICICI Bank up by 1.33%, Indusind Bank up by 0.98% and ONGC up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.77%, Sun Pharma down by 0.48%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.32%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.22% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, retailers Association of India (RAI) in its latest survey report has showed that retail sales in India slipped 79 per cent in May compared to pre-COVID sales in the same month of 2019, as businesses across states were closed due to the second wave of the pandemic.

As per the report, the decline in sales was the steepest in West and North India, which witnessed an 83 per cent dip last month as compared to May 2019, while eastern region saw a decline of 75 per cent, while South was relatively better with degrowth of 73 per cent as compared to the same month in 2019.

Retailers Association of India further noted that on a sequential basis, the decline in May was much steeper compared to the previous month, when overall sales across India were down 49 per cent as compared to April 2019.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15892.60, up by 80.75 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 15842.40 and 15901.60. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 3.02%, Axis Bank up by 1.70%, SBI Life up by 1.53%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.44% and Eicher Motors up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.46%, Coal India down by 1.16%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.79%, Cipla down by 0.71% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 279.50 points or 0.96% to 29,441.30, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 157.77 points or 0.92% to 17,371.29, Straits Times advanced 20.08 points or 0.64% to 3,173.22, Jakarta Composite soared 8.66 points or 0.14% to 6,089.04 and KOSPI was up by 6.50 points or 0.2% to 3,258.63. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 33.19 points or 0.92% to 3,556.56 and Hang Seng was down by 203.60 points or 0.71% to 28,638.53.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.67 points or 0.23% to 7,163.35, France’s CAC increased 27.48 points or 0.42% to 6,643.83 and Germany’s DAX was up by 93.83 points or 0.6% to 15,767.47.