Bourses cut some gains in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks slipped from day’s high points but continued to trade with gains of over one percent in late afternoon session. Buying in IT, TECK and Metal stocks helped the markets to trade higher. Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS and HCL Tech were mainly gainers in the Sensex and Nifty. Sentiments were positive as data from the Labor Department showed employment in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of December. Traders ignored report revealed by the National Statistical Office (NSO) that Indian economy is likely to grow at 7 per cent in 2022-23 as compared to 8.7 per cent in 2021-22. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher as signs of a slowdown in U.S. wage growth stoked hopes of smaller Fed rate hikes and China reopened its borders for the first time in three years. European markets were trading higher after data showed German industrial production recovered at a faster than expected pace in November.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60567.94, up by 667.57 points or 1.11% after trading in a range of 60109.94 and 60889.41. 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 0.55%, while Small cap index was up by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 2.57%, IT up by 2.48%, Metal up by 1.26%, Power up by 1.02% and Energy was up by 1.01%, while Consumer Durables was down by 1.22% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.48%, TCS up by 3.16%, HCL Tech up by 3.07%, Indusind Bank up by 2.93% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.89%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.44%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.27%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.37%, Asian Paints down by 0.36% and HDFC Bank down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining reforms like privatisation, digitization of the economy, decriminalisation of laws, simplification of compliances to enable ease of doing business, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has expressed confidence that the structural reforms taken by the Government in last 8 years will help India emerge among the top three developed economies in the world.

Goyal further noted that a lot of structural changes that have taken place in the last eight years have had a significant impact on the way the Indian economy is poised to take off. He termed GST as one of the important reforms and highlighted that despite the challenging global scenario recent GST collections have been very robust.  He also mentioned that India is now a more honest, transparent economy and people are now getting used to paying their taxes.

Besides, he said that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is also an important reform measure that has resulted in robust banking systems in India. These banks have been able to provide the resources for industry to grow. Goyal said that infrastructure, Semiconductor, Domestic manufacturing are some of the priority sectors. He also pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus is on building a robust infrastructure in India. Private sector is also contributing in this endeavour.

Goyal also said that semiconductor is another critical sector for the Indian economy. Another important area is domestic manufacturing, and the government has introduced PLI schemes to kickstart Indian manufacturing in over 14 sectors. The Minister mentioned the Government is also encouraging the Private sector/ industry associations to determine themselves what support in what areas it needs from the Government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18048.30, up by 188.85 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 17936.15 and 18141.40. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.47%, TCS up by 3.18%, HCL Tech up by 3.12%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.01% and Indusind Bank up by 2.89%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.49%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.28%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.13%, Grasim Industries down by 0.96% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.58% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher, Hang Seng increased 396.70 points or 1.89% to 21,388.34, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 378.87 points or 2.64% to 14,752.21, Nikkei 225 surged 153.05 points or 0.59% to 25,973.85, KOSPI rose 60.22 points or 2.63% to 2,350.19, Straits Times advanced 24.72 points or 0.75% to 3,301.44, Shanghai Composite gained 18.44 points or 0.58% to 3,176.08 and Jakarta Composite was up by 3.70 points or 0.06% to 6,688.26.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 19.33 points or 0.25% to 7,718.82, France’s CAC increased 6.98 points or 0.1% to 6,867.93 and Germany’s DAX was up by 34.93 points or 0.24% to 14,644.95.