Sensex, Nifty maintain gaining rally in late morning session,

Indian equity benchmarks maintained gaining rally in late morning session, with power and capital goods stocks witnessing a strong buying over the Dalal Street. Sentiments remained positive, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose by $2.315 billion to $573.875 billion for the week ended July 29 on the back of robust capital inflows in the equities markets and strengthening of rupee from the record low.

Some relief also came after a private report stated that the public sector banks (PSBs) since FY2014-15 have recovered Rs 6.42 trillion of non-performing loans and written-off loans and have filed suits against 98.5 per cent of wilful defaulters.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after overall bank lending in Japan was up 1.8 percent on year in July, the Bank of Japan said on Monday - coming in at 588.232 trillion yen. That follows the downwardly revised 1.2 percent increase in June (originally 1.3 percent). Excluding trusts, bank lending was up 2.1 percent on year to 511.898 trillion yen, while lending from trusts was roughly flat at 76.333 trillion yen.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58672.09, up by 284.16 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 58266.65 and 58720.53. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.20%, while Small cap index up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.49%, Capital Goods up by 1.48%, Metal up by 1.30%, Utilities up by 1.19% and Industrials up by 0.82%, while IT down by 0.50%, TECK down by 0.40%, Telecom down by 0.29% and PSU down by 0.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07%, HDFC Bank up by 2.03%, NTPC up by 1.99%, Axis Bank up by 1.69% and Reliance Industries up by 1.62%. On the flip side, SBI down by 2.69%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.11%, Wipro down by 0.85%, Infosys down by 0.83% and Asian Paints down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the ‘unacceptably high’ inflation trending around 7 per cent mark led the RBI to hike rates by an aggressive 0.50 per cent. Stating that there are signs that headline inflation, which has breached the 6 per cent upper threshold set for the RBI for six consecutive months, has peaked, he said policy moves from here on will be calibrated, measured and nimble and will depend on unfolding dynamics.

The governor also noted that generally, guidance in a rate hiking cycle is difficult as compared to that in a rate cut cycle. He said inflation still remains at uncomfortably or unacceptably high levels and therefore, monetary policy has to act. He said monetary policy will be calibrated, measured and nimble depending on the unfolding dynamics of inflation and economic activity. The focus will remain on ensuring safe and soft landing for the economy. He said steps have to be taken to contain inflation and inflation expectations in the economy.

Das further said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) also took the growth aspect into consideration while taking its call. He also mentioned that as per the RBI's assessment, Indian economy is an isle of macroeconomic and financial stability in a turbulent ocean right now, and has braved two black swan events of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17471.65, up by 74.15 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 17359.75 and 17485.90. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 2.66%, Hindalco up by 2.36%, NTPC up by 2.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.18% and HDFC Bank up by 2.03%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.72%, SBI down by 2.80%, Britannia down by 1.70%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.25% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times trembled 18.77 points or 0.57% to 3,264.11, Jakarta Composite lost 21.27 points or 0.3% to 7,063.39, Taiwan Weighted dropped 15.63 points or 0.10% to 15,020.41 and Hang Seng decreased 232.05 points or 1.15% to 19,969.89. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 75.22 points or 0.27% to 28,251.09, Shanghai Composite gained 1.12 points or 0.03% to 3,228.15 and KOSPI rose 2.68 points or 0.11% to 2,493.48.