Bourses continue upward trend in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their upward trend in late afternoon session amid falling crude oil prices. Buying in FMCG and Banking stocks helped the markets to trade higher. Sentiments remained upbeat as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised the Reserve bank of India (RBI) for tightening the monetary policy to curb inflation in the country. Traders took note of report that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has announced that she will travel to India next month to attend the ninth edition of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, as she pitched for strong ties between the two nations to address the world’s most important economic challenges. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after recent string of losses on worries about slowing global growth and the impact of rising interest rates on corporate profits. European markets were trading mostly in red, as recession worries persist with U.S. President Joe Biden conceding Tuesday in an interview that a ‘very slight’ recession was possible. back home, investors awaited quarterly results of IT majors Wipro and HCL Tech due later in the day.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57519.44, up by 372.12 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 57085.92 and 57575.16. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.31%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.36%, PSU up by 1.05%, Bankex up by 0.87%, Energy up by 0.74% and Auto was up by 0.70%, while Consumer Durables was down by 0.27% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.29%, Axis Bank up by 2.23%, NTPC up by 2.17%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.92% and Indusind Bank up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.69%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.46%, ICICI Bank down by 0.44%, Titan Co down by 0.29% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining efforts being taken by India towards low carbon development, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep S. Puri has said that India’s energy strategy is mindful of commitments to the global commons, to green transition and to ensure energy availability, affordability and security to all.

Minister emphasized that despite the current challenging energy environment, India’s commitment to energy transitions and its climate mitigation goals, is not going to diminish. Union Minister further remarked that 25% of global energy demand growth in the next 2 decades is going to emanate out of India.

Besides, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that India was undertaking major reforms to rationalize and incentivise Exploration & Production by reducing the no-go areas by 99% opening up approx. 1 million sq kms, making good quality geological data available through the National Depository Registry etc.

Puri also stated that the immense potential between the two countries, India and US, in areas of biofuels, gas based economy, green hydrogen, petrochemicals & upstream sectors is evident and is being furthered by collaboration by the country’s private sector companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17091.60, up by 108.05 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 16960.05 and 17105.40. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.29%, Coal India up by 3.13%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.91%, Axis Bank up by 2.25% and NTPC up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.57%, Asian Paints down by 1.63%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.38%, ICICI Bank down by 0.59% and Titan Company down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 131.33 points or 0.78% to 16,701.03, Jakarta Composite lost 29.94 points or 0.43% to 6,909.21, Taiwan Weighted dropped 24.79 points or 0.19% to 13,081.24, Straits Times trembled 14.32 points or 0.46% to 3,090.68 and Nikkei 225 was down by 4.42 points or 0.02% to 26,396.83. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 10.40 points or 0.47% to 2,202.47 and Shanghai Composite was up by 45.72 points or 1.53% to 3,025.51.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 4.35 points or 0.07% to 5,828.85 and Germany’s DAX was down by 16.83 points or 0.14% to 12,203.42. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 1.56 points or 0.02% to 6,886.79.