Bourses sustain gaining momentum in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks sustained their gaining momentum in late afternoon session led by strong buying support in Power, Utilities and Banking stocks. Traders took support after finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the rupee has not weakened but it is the dollar that has strengthened, as she defended the 8 percent slide in the value of Indian currency against the greenback this year. Further, she said ''The fundamentals of the Indian economy are good, macroeconomic fundamentals are good. The foreign exchange reserve is good. This is what I keep repeating that inflation is also at a manageable level.'' In scrip specific, Electronics Mart India has debuted at Rs 89.40 on the BSE, up by 30.4 points or 51.53% from its issue price of Rs 59. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after reports suggested that Apple has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. in its products. European markets were trading higher buoyed by energy and utility companies, as investors awaited clarity on UK's fiscal plan and earnings reports for clues on corporate health amid jitters about higher interest rates and a potential recession.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58350.88, up by 430.91 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 57639.80 and 58444.25. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.27%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.59%, Utilities up by 1.57%, Bankex up by 1.23%, PSU up by 1.13% and Auto was up by 0.53%, while Metal down by 1.10%, Realty down by 0.73% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.09% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.41%, NTPC up by 1.67%, ICICI Bank up by 1.61%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.25% and Reliance Industries up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.26%, HCL Tech down by 1.08%, Tata Steel down by 0.65%, Wipro down by 0.48% and Power Grid down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining efforts being taken by the government to bring the inflation down, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Indian rupee is holding ground at a time when dollar has strengthened. She also asserted that the fundamentals of India's economy is strong and the inflation is low compared to other parts of the world.

Finance Minister also underlined that several countries in the world like Turkey are facing double digit inflation, and countries are being very severely impacted through external factors. Further, she said ‘We are also being impacted through external factors. We are also being impacted. But because of the various measures we're taking timely each time we are able to bring it to this level at least hold it. Ideally at this time to bring it to four will be just very good, but we're trying.’

Besides, Sitharaman said that all other currencies are performing against a strengthening dollar and Indian rupee has performed much better than many other emerging market currencies. Sitharaman said 'It is not to intervene in the market to fix the value of the rupee. So, containing the volatility is the only exercise that RBI is involved in. And I've said this before, the rupee will find its own level.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17292.65, up by 106.95 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 17098.55 and 17328.55. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 2.48%, NTPC up by 1.85%, ICICI Bank up by 1.58%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.34% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.34%, JSW Steel down by 1.97%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.16%, HCL Tech down by 0.96% and Tata Steel down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 25.21 points or 0.15% to 16,612.90, Jakarta Composite soared 16.59 points or 0.24% to 6,831.12, Shanghai Composite gained 12.95 points or 0.42% to 3,084.94 and KOSPI was up by 7.16 points or 0.32% to 2,219.71. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 21.92 points or 0.72% to 3,017.69, Taiwan Weighted dropped 162.07 points or 1.23% to 12,966.05 and Nikkei 225 was down by 314.97 points or 1.16% to 26,775.79.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.01 points or 0.38% to 6,884.80, France’s CAC increased 9.65 points or 0.16% to 5,941.57 and Germany’s DAX was up by 23.77 points or 0.19% to 12,461.58.