Bourses continue to trade higher in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in the green in late afternoon session amid buying sentiment. Gains across sectors, led by Realty, PSU and Oil & Gas shares, pushed the headline indices higher. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading above half a percent.  Sentiments remained upbeat after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Australian counterpart Dan Tehan have held talks on December 21, 2021 to expedite talks for the proposed free trade agreement, which aimed at enhancing economic ties between the countries. The ministers agreed they look forward to a balanced trade agreement that benefits both the economies and their people, and that reflects their shared commitment to a rules-based international trading system. On the global front, all Asian markets are trading higher and European markets were trading mostly in green as investors’ sentiment improved on signs the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant may not be as severe as feared.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57347.68, up by 417.12 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 57146.28 and 57490.52. 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 0.78%, while Small cap index was up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.06%, PSU up by 1.44%, Oil & Gas up by 1.07%, FMCG up by 0.96% and Power was up by 0.89%, while Telecom down by 1.07% and Metal was down by 0.27% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.93%, ITC up by 2.48%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.93%, Axis Bank up by 1.58% and SBI up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.26%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.77%, Asian Paints down by 0.63%, Sun Pharma down by 0.59% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the pre-Budget consultation meetings with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the industry groups have called for rationalisation of income tax slabs, infrastructure status for digital services and incentives to hydrogen storage as well as fuel cell development.

The customary pre-budget consultation meetings were held with the finance minister virtually between December 15 and December 22. More than 120 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in eight meetings, scheduled during this period.

The stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from agriculture and agro-processing industry; industry, infrastructure and climate change; financial sector and capital markets; services and trade; social sector; trade union & labour organisation and economists.

The stakeholder groups made several suggestions on various issues including increased R&D spending, infrastructure status for digital services, incentives to hydrogen storage and fuel cell development, rationalisation of income tax slabs, investments in online safety measures etc, among others.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17070.55, up by 115.10 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 17015.55 and 17118.65. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.15%, ITC up by 2.52%, Indian Oil up by 2.25%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.00% and Cipla up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.82%, JSW Steel down by 1.80%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.28%, Asian Paints down by 0.75% and Sun Pharma down by 0.75% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher, Nikkei 225 surged 236.16 points or 0.83% to 28,798.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 119.83 points or 0.67% to 17,946.66, Hang Seng increased 91.31 points or 0.4% to 23,193.64, Jakarta Composite soared 25.96 points or 0.4% to 6,555.55, Shanghai Composite gained 20.72 points or 0.57% to 3,643.34, KOSPI rose 13.69 points or 0.46% to 2,998.17 and Straits Times was up by 6.70 points or 0.22% to 3,094.21.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 11.71 points or 0.17% to 7,063.38 and Germany’s DAX was up by 54.98 points or 0.35% to 15,648.45. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 2.31 points or 0.03% to 7,339.35.