Equity markets trade marginally higher in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded near neutral line with positive bias in late afternoon session. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and small cap index were also trading in green. Sentiments remained positive, as Chief financial advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy V Subramanian has said that India is well-poised to climate the ripple impact of taper tantrum if the US Federal Reserve begins to cut back its $120-billion-a-month quantitative easing later this year. Besides, minister of State of Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel has said that India is likely to record exports worth $46 billion to the ASEAN region. She noted that as one of the largest destinations for Indian exports, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be an important region for India in meeting the global export target of $400 billion in financial year 2021-22.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after last week's pummelling, as global equities rebounded, though the focus for most asset classes was the U.S. Federal Reserve's annual symposium on Friday. European markets were trading higher with gains in travel stocks offsetting weak German business sentiment data, while global markets were range-bound ahead of a policy update from the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56,024.31, up by 65.33 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 55920.53 and 56198.13. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.54%, while Small cap index was up by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.37%, Energy up by 1.31%, Power up by 1.05%, IT up by 0.98% and TECK was up by 0.76%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.84%, Realty down by 0.65%, Telecom down by 0.51%, Bankex down by 0.29% and Capital Goods was down by 0.26% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.84%, Reliance Industries up by 1.16%, Nestle up by 1.16%, Infosys up by 0.87% and ITC up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.80%, Titan Company down by 2.07%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.30%, Axis Bank down by 0.98% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, emphasising the importance of Government and Industry working together to ‘create India’s own equity capital’, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Government is committed to working towards ensuring policy certainty. She also added that the regulators also had a key role in ensuring the same and the Government is working with them as well on this important issue.

Expressing the Government’s keenness to facilitate trends and sectors that are the future of the Indian economy, the Finance Minister acknowledged that there are seminal changes happening in the financial sector, which the government policy should facilitate. She said that the economy is moving gradually from a bank-led lending model to a more market-based finance model. Also once the Development Finance Institution is operational, it will perform the function of long-term lending which traditionally has been done by banks. Sitharaman added that this would increase competition for the banks and also improve their efficiency.

Besides, Sitharaman also emphasised on identifying how the sunrise sectors and start-ups can contribute to the future of India and how the Government could facilitate them. The Finance Minister said that this Government believes in listening, working and responding and would extend all possible support. Praising the risk-taking ability of the start-ups, Sitharaman urged industry to also come forward and take risks and assured Industry captains of addressing issues related to competitiveness including high power tariffs, and the issues related to cumbersome regulatory compliances.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16,660.35, up by 35.75 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 16629.80 and 16712.45. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &Special up by 3.80%, ONGC up by 2.92%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.52%, Hindalco up by 2.35% and Tata Motors up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.71%, Titan Company down by 2.17%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.29%, Axis Bank down by 0.92% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 227.13 points or 1.35% to 17,045.86, Shanghai Composite gained 25.91 points or 0.74% to 3,540.38, Jakarta Composite soared 23.74 points or 0.39% to 6,113.24, KOSPI rose 8.51 points or 0.27% to 3,146.81 and Straits Times was up by 3.55 points or 0.11% to 3,111.17. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 7.30 points or 0.03% to 27,724.80 and Hang Seng was down by 33.97 points or 0.13% to 25,693.95.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 11.59 points or 0.16% to 7,137.37, France’s CAC increased 16.73 points or 0.25% to 6,681.04 and Germany’s DAX was up by 10.91 points or 0.07% to 15,916.76.