Bourses continue to show positive momentum in late afternoon session

Key benchmark indices continued to show positive momentum in late afternoon session, following gains in Auto, Utilities and Power stocks. Both Sensex and Nifty were trading above their crucial 60300 and 17950 marks, respectively. Traders remain energized after Finance Ministry's Monthly Economic Review said that strategic reforms and the rapid vaccination drive have placed the country on the path to swift recovery by enabling the economy to ‘navigate the ravaging waves’ of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained and robust growth in agriculture, a sharp rebound in manufacturing and industry, resumption of services activity, and buoyant revenues suggest that the economy is progressing well. The external sector continues to offer bright prospects to India's growth revival as the country's merchandise exports crossed the $30-billion mark for the sixth consecutive month in the fiscal year 2021-22. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as a soft U.S. jobs report did little to allay fears that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its massive bond purchases as early as next month. European markets were trading mostly in red as nerves around inflation and the upcoming earnings season offset surging commodity prices that supported oil and mining shares.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60300.27, up by 241.21 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 59811.42 and 60476.13. 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 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.89%, Utilities up by 2.62%, Power up by 2.61%, Realty up by 2.21% and Bankex was up by 1.91%, while IT down by 2.63%, TECK down by 2.49% and Telecom was down by 0.58% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.11%, Power Grid up by 3.22%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.91%, NTPC up by 2.69% and HDFC Bank up by 2.57%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.89%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.50%, HCL Tech down by 1.82%, Infosys down by 1.53% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to make retail market more competitive and boost economic growth, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has emphasized on reduction of logistic costs below 10%. He further said that the government is focusing on integrated infrastructure development through the announcement of the National Infra Pipeline and Gati-Shakti programs.

Gadkari also said that it has been planned to construct 25,000 kilometers of National highways within the next 2 years. The Minister said under the National Infrastructure pipeline program, a roadmap of 2,800 projects has been planned with a length of over 1 lakh kilometers. Besides, he said flagship Bharatmala pariyojana has planned development of 34,800 km of highways connecting major urban and economic centers throughout the nation.

Besides, Gadkari said that earlier people were reluctant of using or shifting to electric vehicles and had some reservations but today India is breaking records for sale of electric 2 wheelers and the similar patterns will be followed for four wheelers too.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17999.50, up by 104.30 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 17839.10 and 18041.95. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 8.76%, Coal India up by 4.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.98%, Grasim Industries up by 3.52% and Hindalco up by 3.16%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.89%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.32%, Infosys down by 1.40%, HCL Tech down by 1.17% and Wipro down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Jakarta Composite lost 22.07 points or 0.34% to 6,459.70 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.46 points or 0.01% to 3,591.71. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 0.57 points or 0.02% to 3,113.38, Nikkei 225 surged 449.26 points or 1.6% to 28,498.20 and Hang Seng was up by 487.24 points or 1.96% to 25,325.09.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 11.81 points or 0.18% to 6,548.18 and Germany’s DAX was down by 26.61 points or 0.17% to 15,179.52. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by12.51 points or 0.18% to 7,108.06.