Markets continue gaining momentum in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their gaining momentum in late afternoon session, following gains in Banking, IT and Metal stocks. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with healthy gains. The overall market breadth was positive as 1998 shares were advancing and 1597 were declining, while 178 shares were unchanged on the BSE. Sector wise, coal sector remained in focused as India's coal imports increased by 30 per cent to 162.46 million tonnes in the 2022-23 financial year against 124.99 MT in the year-ago period. The import of coking coal rose 5.44 per cent to 54.46 MT over 51.65 MT in FY22. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, with traders looking to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. Data showing a bigger than expected in US jobs addition in the month of April has fueled hopes that the US Fed will hold rates steady in the near future. European markets were trading higher with energy and bank stocks spearheading gains, but were range-bound ahead of key U.S. inflation data due later in the week that would offer more cues on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61793.79, up by 739.50 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 61166.09 and 61854.19. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.91%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.04%, Auto up by 1.61%, Bankex up by 1.50%, PSU up by 0.76% and IT was up by 0.76%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.04% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.62%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.35%, Tata Motors up by 4.15%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.27% and HCL Tech up by 1.96%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.95%, Sun Pharma down by 0.78% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, trade ministers of India and Canada are all set to review the progress in talks on the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries. The ministers will co-chair the discussions for the sixth India- Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) in Ottawa. 

MDTI is a bilateral mechanism which provides institutional mechanism to discuss a broad spectrum of trade and investment related issues and cooperation areas. The Dialogue will focus on various themes including strengthening the Bilateral Trade Relationship between India and Canada, Investment Promotion and Cooperation, Green Transition - including Critical Minerals discussion and new Areas of Cooperation such as promoting B2B engagements.

The Ministers will also review India-Canada CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations. At the last MDTI meeting in March 2022, both Ministers launched the CEPA negotiations with a possibility to have an interim agreement or EPTA (Early Progress Trade Agreement). Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18272.85, up by 203.85 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 18100.30 and 18286.95. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.73%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.33%, Tata Motors up by 4.16%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.27% and ONGC up by 2.90%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.19%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.16%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.06%, Nestle down by 0.88% and Sun Pharma down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 247.72 points or 1.22% to 20,297.03, Taiwan Weighted added 73.5 points or 0.47% to 15,699.57, Shanghai Composite strengthened 60.5 points or 1.78% to 3,395.00 and KOSPI was up by 12.27 points or 0.49% to 2,513.21. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 7.24 points or 0.22% to 3,259.39, Jakarta Composite plunged 11.97 points or 0.18% to 6,775.66 and Nikkei 225 was down by 208.07 points or 0.72% to 28,949.88.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 75.74 points or 0.97% to 7,778.38, France’s CAC rose 7 points or 0.09% to 7,439.93 and Germany’s DAX was up by 4.18 points or 0.03% to 15,965.20.