Bourses continue upward rally in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 450 and 125 points, respectively. Among heavy-weights NTPC, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech exhibited a smart performance. Traders remain energized after Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the bilateral trade between India and the US has grown from $16 billion to $ 149 billion in the last two decades. The trade is projected to reach $500 billion by 2025. On the sectoral front, Steel sector remained in focus, as Union Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh has held a meeting. The Steel CPSEs were directed to step up the pace of their CAPEX and to also streamline the processes for timely completion of projects. During the detailed review of projects under implementation, the union minister also emphasized the importance of capital expenditure in building steel infrastructure to spur high and sustainable growth in the post pandemic period.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after U.S. inflation was lower than expected amid unease about the impact of the spread of the coronavirus's delta variant. European markets were trading mostly in red as worries about a slowing Chinese economy, declines in travel and leisure stocks and soaring UK inflation dampened sentiment in early trading.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58723.97, up by 476.88 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 58272.82 and 58746.05. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.70%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.85%, Utilities up by 2.43%, Power up by 2.19%, TECK up by 1.88% and PSU was up by 1.84%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 5.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.26%, HCL Tech up by 3.50%, Titan Company up by 2.86% and Power Grid up by 2.50%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 0.67%, Nestle down by 0.51%, HDFC Bank down by 0.28%, HDFC down by 0.20% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to review the progress of capital expenditure (CAPEX) by Steel CPSEs, the Union Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh has held a meeting. The Steel CPSEs were directed to step up the pace of their CAPEX and to also streamline the processes for timely completion of projects.

During the detailed review of projects under implementation, the Union Minister also emphasized the importance of capital expenditure in building steel infrastructure to spur high and sustainable growth in the post pandemic period.

As per the notification released by the Ministry of Steel, the CMDs of Steel CPSEs viz. Steel Authority of India (SAIL), National Mineral Development (NMDC), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL), Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL) and Manganese Ore (India) (MOIL) and senior officers of the Ministry of Steel attended the meeting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17520.10, up by 140.10 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 17386.90 and 17522.95. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 5.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.14%, ONGC up by 4.52%, Coal India up by 4.23% and HCL Tech up by 3.33%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 0.87%, Grasim Industries down by 0.70%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.65%, BPCL down by 0.52% and Nestle down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 469.02 points or 1.84% to 25,033.21, Nikkei 225 slipped 158.39 points or 0.52% to 30,511.71, Taiwan Weighted dropped 80.90 points or 0.46% to 17,354.00, Straits Times trembled 20.73 points or 0.67% to 3,059.64, Jakarta Composite lost 18.87 points or 0.31% to 6,110.23 and Shanghai Composite was down by 6.38 points or 0.17% to 3,656.22. On the flip side, KOSPI was up by 4.57 points or 0.15% to 3,153.40.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.43 points or 0.02% to 7,032.63 and France’s CAC was up by 11.93 points or 0.18% to 6,641.04. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 3.05 points or 0.02% to 15,726.04.