Local equity markets enlarge gains in late afternoon session

Mirroring strong global cues, local equity markets enlarged their gains in late afternoon session. Strength in Telecom, Bankex and Metal stocks pushed the markets higher. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading above a percent each. Some support came in as India's crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now make up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas. Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war. On the global front, all Asian markets and European markets were trading higher as a continuous decline in commodities from crude oil, to metals to cotton, helped ease fears around runaway inflation. The U.S. dollar slipped from recent highs, bond yields mostly fell and gold held steady while oil extended recent losses on concerns over a slowdown in fuel demand.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52719.82, up by 454.10 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 52447.25 and 52909.87. 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 1.44%, while Small cap index was up by 1.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.00%, Bankex up by 1.45%, Metal up by 1.40%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.37% and Auto was up by 1.36%, while IT down by 0.59% and TECK was down by 0.31% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.52%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.86%, Indusind Bank up by 2.31%, ICICI Bank up by 2.02% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.98%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.85%, HCL Tech. down by 0.55%, TCS down by 0.49% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, calling upon the industry bodies like FICCI to work together for agricultural development, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the private sector should also join hands with the government to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides in farming. He added that the country is agriculture-oriented and farming has a big contribution in the country's economy.

Tomar expressed need to take steps to increase the returns in the field of agriculture and the post-harvest losses to the farmers should be minimal. He said that in this regard, the Central Government is working on several schemes. At the same time, the Government wants that farmers can use technology to shift to remunerative crops. Work is also being done to ensure uniformity and quality in the production of crops.

The Minister noted that that today horticulture should also be promoted so that the country can become self-reliant in all respects, adding that the country is in a very comfortable position in the production of food grains. Ten thousand new FPOs are also being created, which is benefiting the farmers a lot and will continue to do so. Crop diversification should also be encouraged.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15688.40, up by 131.75 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 15619.45 and 15749.25. There were 40 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remain unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.43%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.75%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.58%, Indusind Bank up by 2.47% and ONGC up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.13%, Infosys down by 0.96%, TCS down by 0.74%, HCL Tech down by 0.62% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.33% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher, Hang Seng increased 445.19 points or 2.09% to 21,719.06, Nikkei 225 surged 320.72 points or 1.23% to 26,491.97, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 126.88 points or 0.84% to 15,303.32, KOSPI rose 52.28 points or 2.26% to 2,366.60, Jakarta Composite soared 44.67 points or 0.64% to 7,042.94, Shanghai Composite gained 29.60 points or 0.89% to 3,349.75 and Straits Times was up by 19.22 points or 0.62% to 3,112.02.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 73.14 points or 1.04% to 7,093.59, France’s CAC increased 74.57 points or 1.27% to 5,957.90 and Germany’s DAX was up by 91.86 points or 0.71% to 13,004.45.