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

Mirroring positive global cues, Indian equity benchmarks traded at day’s high levels in late afternoon session. The overall market breadth turned healthy as 2002 shares advanced while 1424 declined on BSE. Buying in IT and Metal stocks lifted the mood of the markets. Besides, investors turned their attention towards fundamentally strong stocks. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as data showing a slowdown in U.S. inflation helped calm worries over the Federal Reserve's rate-hike trajectory. European markets were trading higher after closing the previous session at their highest level since April 2022 and the British economy unexpectedly grew in November, with investors awaiting earnings from big U.S. banks. Back home, India’s retail inflation or consumer price index (CPI) declined to a one-year low of 5.72 per cent in December 2022. The CPI was at 5.88 per cent in November 2022 and 5.66 per cent in December 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60321.21, up by 363.18 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 59628.43 and 60418.26. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 1.23%, IT up by 1.13%, Metal up by 0.95%, PSU up by 0.80% and Auto was up by 0.77%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.83%, Capital Goods down by 0.26% and Healthcare was down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.26%, Indusind Bank up by 2.16%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.88%, Tata Steel up by 1.82% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.63%, Axis Bank down by 0.26%, Asian Paints down by 0.20% and Reliance Industries down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said that the India US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) has resulted into a smoother, friendly and trusted business environment for businesses from both sides to expand their trade and investment.
Goyal further said that TPF, which was relaunched in a new form in November 2021, has become a very robust and outcome oriented platform to have free and frank discussion on a plethora of issues of mutual interest. He said that issues related to resolving WTO disputes, restarting of exports of wild caught shrimps, speeding up of business visas, resilient supply chains, data flow and addressing climate change were discussed during the 13th Ministerial TPF dialogue.

Besides, Goyal said that both countries had a robust discussion on finding bilateral solutions to outstanding WTO disputes between them. He hoped for a satisfactory outcome in the next few months over these issues. He said India has requested USA to expedite the issuance of business visas to facilitate faster movement of business persons across both sides. Goyal also said that both the countries are keen to have an effective and trusted supply chain between them in several areas including telemedicine services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17968.45, up by 110.25 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 17774.25 and 17999.35. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 2.49%, Infosys up by 2.34%, Indusind Bank up by 2.19%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.08% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.15%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.63%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.61%, Axis Bank down by 0.29% and Reliance Industries down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 224.56 points or 1.04% to 21,738.66, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 92.49 points or 0.63% to 14,824.13, Shanghai Composite gained 31.86 points or 1.01% to 3,195.31, KOSPI rose 20.99 points or 0.89% to 2,386.09, Straits Times advanced 20.97 points or 0.64% to 3,288.75 and Jakarta Composite was up by 11.90 points or 0.18% to 6,641.83. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 330.30 points or 1.25% to 26,119.52.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 44.74 points or 0.57% to 7,838.78, France’s CAC increased 29.88 points or 0.43% to 7,005.56 and Germany’s DAX was up by 11.32 points or 0.08% to 15,069.62.