Positive trade continues over Dalal Street

Positive trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were optimistic, amid a private report stating that companies in India are expected to give a salary hike of 10 per cent in 2023 as they struggle with rising attrition in the tight labour market. Adding more comfort among traders, the UK India Business Council sees opportunities for trade, investment, and collaboration with India across financial technology (fintech), food and beverage, electric vehicle (EV), and other sectors.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the total value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on month in July, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday - coming in at 917.0 billion yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.3 percent following the 5.6 percent decline in May. On a yearly basis, orders advanced 6.5 percent - again shy of expectations for a gain of 7.5 percent and down from 7.4 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60116.60, up by 274.39 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 59857.80 and 60219.79. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.41%, Utilities up by 1.11%, Power up by 1.08%, TECK up by 0.71% and IT up by 0.71%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 5.58%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.26%, NTPC up by 2.43%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.56% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.50%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.79%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.76%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.36%, HDFC down by 0.24% and HDFC Bank down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has unveiled a platform to drive collaboration between the industry and research institutes to implement technology-based social impact innovations and solutions in the country.

The Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the government, Ajay Kumar Sood said that ‘the launch of Manthan, a platform that promises to augment our efforts to build and nurture industry participation in R&D, is also a testimony of our commitment to the UN's SDG goals.’ Powered by NSEIT, the Manthan platform will help scale up interactions among stakeholders, facilitate research and innovation, and share challenges in various emerging technologies and scientific interventions, including those that make a social impact.

Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of PSA, also said the platform will provide the necessary fulcrum for transforming the nation through innovative ideas, inventive minds, and public-private-academia collaboration to achieve the country's sustainability goals. Led by the Office of PSA, Manthan will facilitate knowledge transfers and interactions through information exchange sessions, exhibitions, and events to develop a framework for future science, innovation, and technology-led growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17910.45, up by 85.20 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 17833.35 and 17937.50. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 5.56%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.31%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.53%, BPCL up by 2.37% and NTPC up by 2.36%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 1.17%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.90%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.77%, Cipla down by 0.67% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 353.86 points or 1.23% to 29,222.77, Hang Seng increased 136.28 points or 0.69% to 19,966.80, Straits Times advanced 11.39 points or 0.35% to 3,265.18 and Shanghai Composite gained 11.45 points or 0.35% to 3,289.33. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 1.77 points or 0.01% to 15,418.80 and KOSPI fell 16.00 points or 0.63% to 2,517.52.