Bourses extend gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended their gains in late afternoon session, as investors continued to take support with easing WPI inflation in May. Besides, globally traders were hoping that the Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its meeting later in the day given a slowdown in inflation, pausing an aggressive rate-hiking cycle which began early last year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after overnight data showed U.S. consumer price inflation barely rose in May. European markets were trading higher extending gains from the previous session, ahead of the US Fed outcome due later today.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63242.57, up by 99.41 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 63013.51 and 63265.24. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.63%, Oil & Gas up by 0.99%, Energy up by 0.89%, Power up by 0.62% and FMCG was up by 0.61%, while Bankex down by 0.27%, IT down by 0.26%, TECK down by 0.20% and Capital Goods was down by 0.03% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.43%, Power Grid up by 1.61%, Tata Motors up by 1.42%, NTPC up by 1.38% and Reliance Industries up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.82%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.70%, Axis Bank down by 0.57% and Infosys down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) maintained the declining trend in the month of May 2023 at (-) 3.48% as against (-) 0.92% recorded in April 2023. Decline in the rate of inflation is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, non-food articles and crude petroleum & natural gas, coal, mineral oils and electricity.

The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, declined 1.13% to 175.3 (provisional) in May 2023 from 177.3 (provisional) for the month of April 2023. Prices of Food Articles, Non-food Articles and Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas declined in May 2023 as compared to April 2023, while Prices of Minerals increased in May 2023 as compared to April 2023.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined 2.62% to 148.6 (provisional) in May 2023 from 152.6 (provisional) for the month of April 2023. Prices of Coal, Mineral Oils and Electricity declined in May 2023 as compared to April 2023.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, declined 0.35% to 140.7 (provisional) in May 2023 from 141.2 (provisional) for the month of April 2023. Meanwhile, for the month of March 2023 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 151.0 and 1.41% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18764.25, up by 48.10 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 18690.00 and 18768.60. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer up by 5.01%, Tata Steel up by 2.34%, JSW Steel up by 2.25%, Power Grid up by 1.80% and Grasim Industries up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.82%, Indusind Bank down by 0.80%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.70%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.65% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng declined 113 points or 0.58% to 19,408.42, Jakarta Composite plunged 22.02 points or 0.33% to 6,696.99, KOSPI dropped 18.87 points or 0.72% to 2,619.08 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.68 points or 0.14% to 3,228.99. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 21.54 points or 0.12% to 17,238.14, Straits Times rose 25.57 points or 0.8% to 3,214.97 and Nikkei 225 was up by 483.77 points or 1.44% to 33,502.42.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.36 points or 0.1% to 7,602.14, France’s CAC rose 40.96 points or 0.56% to 7,331.76 and Germany’s DAX was up by 65.28 points or 0.4% to 16,295.96.