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

Indian equity markets traded near day’s high points in late afternoon session, following gains in IT and Metal sector stocks. Besides, Reserve Bank of India has reported smaller interest rate hike. Positive reaction to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks also lifted the markets up. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading with hefty gains. Sector wise, Banking, auto and realty sectors remained in limelight post RBI policy announcement. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid signs of rising tensions between Washington and Beijing in recent days. European markets were trading higher as investors digested the latest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60761.39, up by 475.35 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 60324.92 and 60792.10. There were 23 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.90%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.82%, TECK up by 1.46%, Metal up by 1.14%, Healthcare up by 0.97% and Energy was up by 0.44%, while Capital Goods down by 0.22%, Telecom down by 0.04% and Industrials was down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.73%, Reliance Industries up by 2.17%, Infosys up by 2.16%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.13% and TCS up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.84%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.30%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.06%, Axis Bank down by 0.64% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that Current Account Deficit (CAD), a key indicator of the external sector, is expected to moderate in second half of 2022-23 (H2FY23) from 3.3 per cent of GDP in April-September mainly due to moderation in imports. He noted that CAD had widened to 3.3 per cent of GDP in first half of 2022-23 from 0.2 per cent in the comparable period of 2021-22 on the back of a sharp increase in the merchandise trade deficit.

Das said the situation has shown improvement in Q3:2022-23 as imports moderated in the wake of lower commodity prices, resulting in narrowing of the merchandise trade deficit. Further, he said services exports rose 24.9 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2022-23, driven by software, business and travel services. Global software and IT services spending is expected to remain strong in 2023.

The Governor further said remittance growth for India in April-September 2022-23 was around 26 per cent – more than twice the World Bank’s projection for the year. This is likely to remain robust owing to better growth prospects of the Gulf countries. He also stated that the net balance under services and remittances is expected to remain in large surplus, partly offsetting the trade deficit. On the financing of CAD, he said the net foreign direct investment (FDI) flows remain strong at $22.3 billion during April-December 2022 ($24.8 billion in the corresponding period last year).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17885.95, up by 164.45 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 17744.15 and 17889.30. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 15.14%, Adani Ports up by 7.87%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 4.46%, SBI Life up by 2.80% and JSW Steel up by 2.68%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.14%, Power Grid down by 1.78%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.67%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.27% and Eicher Motors down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, KOSPI increased 31.93 points or 1.29% to 2,483.64, Jakarta Composite gained 4.82 points or 0.07% to 6,940.12 and Straits Times was up by 3.68 points or 0.11% to 3,384.52. On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 15.18 points or 0.07% to 21,283.52, Shanghai Composite weakened 15.98 points or 0.49% to 3,232.11 and Nikkei 225 was down by 79.01 points or 0.29% to 27,606.46.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 41.26 points or 0.52% to 7,905.97, France’s CAC rose 20.48 points or 0.29% to 7,152.83 and Germany’s DAX was up by 65.28 points or 0.43% to 15,386.16.