Markets continue to trade higher in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks continued their trade in green territory in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading in green. Sentiment remained positive after Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs Chairman Vivek Johri has expressed hope that robust Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections will help achieve the FY23 revenue growth target on the indirect taxes front, despite the impact of duty cuts on central excise and customs mop-up. In scrip specific development, Dharmaj Crop Guard has debuted at Rs 266.00 on the BSE, up by 29 points or 12.24% from its issue price of Rs 237. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red after Wall Street sagged under weakness in tech stocks. US futures edged lower while oil prices rebounded. European markets were trading mostly in green after China announced an easing of its zero tolerance COVID-19 policies.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62,524.77, up by 114.09 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 62320.18 and 62633.56. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.21%, Industrials up by 0.95%, Bankex up by 0.84%, Metal up by 0.76% and PSU was up by 0.63%, while Realty down by 1.17%, Healthcare down by 0.84%, Utilities down by 0.52%, Power down by 0.44% and IT was down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.44%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.77%, Indusind Bank up by 1.29%, SBI up by 0.82% and Tata Steel up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.66%, Power Grid down by 1.67%, Nestle down by 0.82%, TCS down by 0.82% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, listing series of measures taken by the Government to boost domestic and foreign investments in India, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash has said that the reforms taken by Government have resulted in increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the country. FDI inflows in India stood at $45.15 billion in 2014-2015 and have continuously increased since then, and India registered its highest ever annual FDI inflow of $84.84 billion (provisional figures) in the financial year 2021-22.

The minister further noted that the series of measures taken by the Government to improve the economic situation and convert the disruption caused by COVID 19 into an opportunity for growth includes Atmanirbhar packages, introduction of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme in various Ministries, investment opportunities under National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) and National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), Industrial Park Rating System (IPRS), soft launch of the National Single Window System (NSWS), etc.

He also said that an institutional mechanism to fast-track investments has been put in place, in the form of Project Development Cells (PDCs) in all concerned Ministries/ Departments of Government of India along with an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS). Som Parkash further said the activities under the Make in India initiative are also being undertaken by several Central Government Ministries/ Departments and various State and UTs Governments. Ministries formulate action plans, programmes, schemes and policies for the sectors being dealt by them, while States also have their own Schemes for attracting investments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,592.70, up by 32.20 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 18536.95 and 18625.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.76%, Hindalco up by 1.38%, Indusind Bank up by 1.34% and Eicher Motors up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.83%, Power Grid down by 1.56%, Divi's Lab down by 1.34%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.13% and TCS down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 111.97 points or 0.4% to 27,574.43, Taiwan Weighted dropped 76.97 points or 0.53% to 14,553.04, Jakarta Composite lost 14.52 points or 0.21% to 6,804.23, KOSPI fell 11.73 points or 0.49% to 2,371.08 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2.27 points or 0.07% to 3,197.35. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 14.26 points or 0.44% to 3,239.71 and Hang Seng was up by 635.41 points or 3.38% to 19,450.23.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 10.25 points or 0.15% to 6,670.84 and Germany’s DAX was up by 30.01 points or 0.21% to 14,291.20. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 8.61 points or 0.11% to 7,480.58.