Bourses hit record highs in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, breaching their crucial 59,800 (Sensex) and 17,800 (Nifty) levels. Both Sensex and Nifty hit record highs. Among heavy-weights Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank exhibited a smart performance. Traders remained energized, as commerce and industry ministry has said foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into the country grew by 112 per cent in the first four months (April-July) of 2021-22 ($20.42 billion) compared to the year ago period ($9.61 billion). Total FDI inflow rose to $27.37 billion during the first four months of 2021-22. In the year-ago period, the same was at $16.92 billionl. Traders took note of report that Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said ‘strong feedback’ will help in preparing a robust e-commerce policy even as he termed reports of differences within the government on the proposed policy as efforts to ‘sensationalise any feedback’.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, supported by some positive reports from struggling developer China Evergrande Group, while the dollar held near a one-month top after the U.S. Federal Reserve took a hawkish tilt overnight. European markets were trading higher as global sentiment improved on easing concerns about cash-strapped developer China Evergrande, while car parts makers surged after earnings update from Faurecia.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59,827.94, up by 900.61 points or 1.53% after trading in a range of 59243.15 and 59764.79. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.22%, while Small cap index was up by 1.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 8.14%, Bankex up by 2.27%, Energy up by 1.97%, Capital Goods up by 1.81% and Industrials was up by 1.69%, while FMCG was down by 0.12% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 5.31%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.34%, Axis Bank up by 2.99%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.78% and SBI up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.45%, Nestle down by 0.37%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.28%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.25% and Sun Pharma down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the road transport and highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India is committed to an eminently achievable clean energy-based economy, through an annual road-map for production, supply of ethanol till 2025-26, and systems for its countrywide marketing. He said the country will soon have a policy for flex-fuel engines and this policy will encourage automobile manufacturers to produce such engines.

The minister further said India is shifting its public transport fleet to green fuels like bio-CNG, ethanol, methanol, electricity and green hydrogen, which will also provide citizens some respite from surging petrol prices. He pointed out that India is one of the fastest-growing economies leading through sustainable and climate-neutral development. While the government is focusing to create an investor-friendly ecosystem to promote domestic manufacturing, he said ‘parallelly we are also giving importance to infrastructure development’. As expected, he said India is gaining good momentum in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem.

Gadkari further said his ministry is also planning to run a railway, metro, and long-run intercity buses on green hydrogen. He noted that both battery electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicle technologies are complementary to each other and are all set to overtake fossil-run automotive by 2050 in the country. He added that India's fuel energy security can be well supported by the agriculture sector as it provides opportunities for concepts such as waste to wealth and waste to energy, ultimately leading to the benefit of all.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17,811.20, up by 264.55 points or 1.51% after trading in a range of 17646.55 and 17786.05. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 5.23%, Tata Motors up by 3.98%, Coal India up by 3.45%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.29% and Hindalco up by 3.19%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.47%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.02%, Britannia down by 0.95%, Shree Cement down by 0.53% and Nestle down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 289.44 points or 1.19% to 24,510.98, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 152.40 points or 0.9% to 17,078.22, Straits Times advanced 35.66 points or 1.17% to 3,083.71, Jakarta Composite soared 34.44 points or 0.56% to 6,142.71 and Shanghai Composite was up by 13.73 points or 0.38% to 3,642.22. On the flip side, KOSPI was down by 12.93 points or 0.41% to 3,127.58.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 31.27 points or 0.44% to 7,114.64, France’s CAC increased 65.54 points or 0.99% to 6,702.54 and Germany’s DAX was up by 159.71 points or 1.03% to 15,666.45.