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

The Indian benchmarks enlarged their gains and traded at day’s high points in late afternoon session led by banking stocks. Markets traded higher amid investors were looking forward to the release of the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes. Sentiment remained positive after Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based intergovernmental body, it its latest report has said that India, with a growth rate of 6.6 per cent in this financial year, is among the fastest growing economies in Asia amid a global slowdown triggered by a massive energy shock due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green tracking an overnight recovery in Wall Street as markets awaited more cues on U.S. monetary policy, although rising COVID-19 cases in China kept gains limited as traders feared more disruptions. European markets were trading mostly in red as investors assessed euro zone economic data and awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61,615.37, up by 196.41 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 61442.69 and 61780.90. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.78%, Bankex up by 0.71%, Metal up by 0.65%, Oil & Gas up by 0.42% and Healthcare was up by 0.42%, while Capital Goods down by 0.23%, Telecom down by 0.20%, Realty down by 0.10%, TECK down by 0.06% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.54%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.39%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.91%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.78% and Sun Pharma up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.24%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.40%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.27%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.26% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, jumping 2 spots higher, India has been ranked 8th on Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI, 2023) published by German Watch, New Climate Institute and Climate Action Network International based in Germany. The latest report of CCPI, released at COP 27 in November 2022, shows Denmark, Sweden, Chile and Morocco as the only four small countries that were ranked above India as 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.

The first, second and third ranks were not awarded to any country. In effect therefore, India has been ranked amongst top 5 countries in the world, and the best among the G20 countries, based on its Climate Change performance. India earned a high rating in the global greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions and Energy Use categories, while a medium for Climate Policy and Renewable Energy.

The CCPI aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables comparison of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries. Published annually since 2005, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an independent monitoring tool for tracking the climate protection performance of 59 countries and the EU.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,292.75, up by 48.55 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 18251.75 and 18325.40. There were 32 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 2.85%, SBI up by 1.57%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.52%, JSW Steel up by 1.45% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.50%, Power Grid down by 1.29%, SBI Life down by 0.86%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76% and Adani Ports down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 99.40 points or 0.57% to 17,523.81, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 66.34 points or 0.46% to 14,608.54, Jakarta Composite soared 23.53 points or 0.33% to 7,054.12, KOSPI rose 12.74 points or 0.53% to 2,418.01 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.97 points or 0.26% to 3,096.91. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 7.52 points or 0.23% to 3,252.04.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 8.82 points or 0.13% to 6,648.71 and Germany’s DAX was down by 34.87 points or 0.24% to 14,387.48. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 34.58 points or 0.46% to 7,487.42.