Bourses trade with healthy gains in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade with healthy gains in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. Strength was also visible in the broader markets with the S&P BSE Mid-cap and the S&P BSE Small-cap indices gaining above half a percent each in trade. Bajaj twins -- Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Some support came in as Moody's Analytics in its recent report on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region has stated that global oil prices are likely to fall to almost $70 per barrel by the end of 2024. Indicating the increase in oil prices to $120/barrel in June after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its fall to $100/barrel in August it said ‘this trend will continue; we expect crude prices to fall to almost $70 a barrel by the end of next year’. It noted that ‘for the APAC region's big oil importers, notably Singapore and Hong Kong, this will ease pinching price pressures’.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid bets that central banks will be less aggressive with rate hikes in the coming months. European markets were trading lower after mixed cue from Wall Street, having struggled to build positive momentum so far this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60233.39, up by 391.18 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 59857.80 and 60257.58. 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 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.55%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.70%, TECK up by 1.20%, IT up by 1.15%, Utilities up by 1.02% and Power was up by 0.90%, while Auto down by 0.39%, Realty down by 0.07% and Capital Goods was down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 6.02%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.59%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.61%, HCL Tech up by 2.26% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.25%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.78%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.66%, Titan Company down by 0.34% and Tata Steel down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, launching the Public Systems Lab (PSL) at IIT Delhi, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textile Piyush Goyal has said that the government is using innovative solutions to make the public delivery system more effective and efficient.

The minister further noted that ‘through Government initiatives like PMGKAY, India has been a role model for the world in dealing with food security in the wake of the pandemic. Despite the massive pandemic, Government through One Nation, One Ration Card ensured food security for all’.

Calling upon youth to contribute in making of a developed and prosperous India, Goyal said that ‘Today India is talked of in the world as an emerging superpower, as a nation of Startups, a nation of innovators, a nation meeting its SDGs in advance. This is possible when young minds come up with innovative ideas that contribute to the development of India’.

Meanwhile, the launch of Public Systems lab will greatly impact citizens, and deliver significant benefits for academia and other stakeholders. The lab will use knowledge of Operations Research, AI, Data Science etc to solve critical problems that are vital for improving the lives of crores of people. It will work in the field of food, health, transportation & good governance.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17941.85, up by 116.60 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 17833.35 and 17945.10. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 5.93%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.70%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.27%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 3.15% and Hindalco up by 2.63%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.28%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.80%, Coal India down by 0.76%, SBI Life down by 0.75% and Cipla down by 0.74% 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 91.93 points or 0.46% to 19,922.45, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 44.88 points or 0.29% to 15,465.45, Shanghai Composite gained 14.65 points or 0.45% to 3,292.53 and Straits Times was up by 11.26 points or 0.35% to 3,265.05. On the flip side, KOSPI was down by 17.05 points or 0.67% to 2,516.47.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 8.10 points or 0.11% to 7,527.96, France’s CAC decreased 9.69 points or 0.15% to 6,582.89 and Germany’s DAX was down by 42.28 points or 0.3% to 13,867.84.