Markets trade at day’s high points in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s high points in late afternoon session on sustained buying activities in index heavyweights, viz Bharti Airtel, Titan Company, Indusind Bank among others. Traders gave big thumbs up to RBI Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to hike repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.90 percent in a bid to check inflation, which has remained above its tolerance level for the past 8 months. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate stands adjusted to 5.65 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.15 per cent. Traders ignored Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that 67 per cent of the decline in the foreign exchange reserves since April was due to valuation changes arising from strengthening US dollar and higher American bond yields. The forex reserves, which stood at $606.475 billion as on April 2, have declined to $ 537.5 billion as on September 23. It was also the eighth straight week when the reserves declined.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with growing worries about the U.K.'s fiscal policy, Europe's energy crisis and hawkish Fed commentary weighing on markets. European markets were trading higher as government bond yields pulled back from recent highs and new data showed the U.K. economy has not yet fallen into a recession.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57706.43, up by 1296.47 points or 2.30% after trading in a range of 56147.23 and 57722.63. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.35%, while Small cap index was up by 1.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.95%, Metal up by 3.28%, Bankex up by 2.97%, Capital Goods up by 2.54% and Realty was up by 2.47%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.78%, Titan Company up by 4.03%, Indusind Bank up by 3.83%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.71% and Bajaj Finserv up by 3.63%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.60% and Asian Paints down by 0.52% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, climbing six notches, India stood at 40th position in the Global Innovation Index 2022 on account of improvement in several parameters. According to a report by the Genevabased World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), India's innovation performance is above average for the upper middleincome group in almost every innovation pillar, with the exception of infrastructure, where it scores below average.

Talking on the development, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal said that India had come a long way in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from the 81st spot in 2015 to the 40th spot in 2022 today. He also said ‘We were 46 last time the ranking was done. We have also maintained 1st rank in ICT services exports over the years’.

The Minister said that GII has established itself as a tool for Governments across the world to reflect upon policies and their impact. He further added that GII has over the years recognized India’s continuous rise due to the progressive measures taken by the government and industry working hand in hand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17170.55, up by 352.45 points or 2.10% after trading in a range of 16747.70 and 17187.10. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.94%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.92%, Titan Company up by 3.98%, Indusind Bank up by 3.89% and Larsen & Toubro up by 3.56%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 0.72%, Asian Paints down by 0.58%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.52% and Apollo Hospital down by 0.07% were the only losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 484.84 points or 1.83% to 25,937.21, Taiwan Weighted dropped 109.68 points or 0.81% to 13,424.58, Shanghai Composite declined 16.81 points or 0.55% to 3,024.39 and KOSPI was down by 15.44 points or 0.71% to 2,155.49. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 4.60 points or 0.07% to 7,040.80, Straits Times advanced 17.82 points or 0.57% to 3,132.90 and Hang Seng was up by 56.96 points or 0.33% to 17,222.83.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 44.54 points or 0.65% to 6,926.13, France’s CAC increased 57.39 points or 1.01% to 5,734.26 and Germany’s DAX was up by 121.54 points or 1.01% to 12,097.09.