Bourses trim some gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets trimmed some of their gains but managed to remain in green territory in late afternoon session. Buying in IT, Metal stocks offered some support to markets. However, upside remained capped as traders were cautious after sharp increase in retail sales has led to concerns the Federal Reserve will be encouraged to continue aggressively raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation. Sector wise, defence stocks remained in limelight as most of defence companies signed MoUs during Aero India 2023. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders shrugged off concerns over the outlook for interest rates following the release of US inflation data and upbeat US retail sales data. European markets were trading higher tracking the bullish momentum in the Asian markets as well as the rally in Wall Street, a day earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61,414.69, up by 139.6 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 61411.45 and 61682.25. 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 1.10%, while Small cap index was up by 1.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.56%, Realty up by 1.52%, Industrials up by 1.31%, Capital Goods up by 1.19% and Healthcare was up by 1.09%, while Auto down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 5.51%, Nestle up by 2.65%, TCS up by 1.27%, Asian Paints up by 1.15% and Tata Steel up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 0.73%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.55%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.34%, Axis Bank down by 0.28% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a significant announcement, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said the government will spend 75 per cent of the total defence capital outlay for procurement from domestic defence manufacturers from 2023-24. The decision will mean setting aside of around Rs 100,000 crore for procurement of military platforms and equipment from the Indian manufacturers.

Besides, several agreements and technology transfer agreements were firmed up among large number of defence companies which participated in Aero India 2023. It is a very significant decision which will further strengthen the domestic defence manufacturing sector.

Aero India 2023 has shown that the Indian defence sector is ready to march ahead along with top global defence companies. The MoUs and technology transfer agreements signed during Aero India will facilitate a new beginning for defence manufacturing in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,058.45, up by 42.60 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 18052.35 and 18134.75. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 5.52%, ONGC up by 5.32%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 3.37%, Nestle up by 2.54% and Adani Ports up by 2.01%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.56%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.89%, Eicher Motors down by 0.79%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.65% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 194.58 points or 0.7% to 27,696.44, Hang Seng advanced 175.5 points or 0.84% to 20,987.67, Taiwan Weighted added 117.61 points or 0.76% to 15,550.50, KOSPI increased 47.58 points or 1.92% to 2,475.48 and Straits Times was up by 32.2 points or 0.97% to 3,313.02. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 18.88 points or 0.27% to 6,895.66 and Shanghai Composite was down by 31.46 points or 0.97% to 3,249.03.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 18.1 points or 0.23% to 8,015.93, France’s CAC rose 56.43 points or 0.77% to 7,357.29 and Germany’s DAX was up by 76.59 points or 0.49% to 15,582.93.