Bourses trade near new all-time high levels in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks traded at new all-time high levels in late afternoon session as investors continued to hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. The overall market breadth was positive as 1934 shares were advancing and 1522 were declining, while 155 shares were unchanged on the BSE. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading with gains of above half a percent. Traders took support after Fitch Ratings said that India's resilient growth outlook will offset a slowdown in overseas markets for the country's corporates and easing input cost pressure will help widen their profit margins. Earlier this month, Fitch had raised India's economic growth forecast to 6.3 per cent for the current fiscal year 2023-24 from the 6 per cent it had predicted previously.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the mixed cues from global markets overnight, as traders react to the results of the US Fed's annual bank stress test that showed large banks are well positioned to weather a severe recession and continue to lend to households and businesses even during a severe recession. European markets were trading higher after making marginal gains throughout the week, with investors keeping an eye on upcoming euro zone inflation data. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64,611.61, up by 696.19 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 64068.44 and 64600.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.01%, Auto up by 1.99%, TECK up by 1.65%, Capital Goods up by 1.02% and Industrials was up by 0.83%, while Telecom down by 0.28% and Utilities was down by 0.08% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.51%, Indusind Bank up by 3.01%, Infosys up by 2.80%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.74% and Sun Pharma up by 2.31%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 0.69%, ICICI Bank down by 0.46%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.36% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the Indian banks to ensure enhanced and affordable credit to MSMEs to achieve the target of 1 trillion dollar merchandise exports, in a meeting with bankers on export credit to MSME exporters. Based on Export Credit Guarantee Corporation’s (ECGC) experience under the scheme of enhanced cover, ECGC has now proposed further modifications to make available adequate and affordable credit to a larger section of MSME exporters. The product facilitates the borrower accounts to be treated equivalent to ‘AA’ rated account with reduced cost of export credit to the exporters.

Goyal said that the ECGC can examine the extension of the scheme proposed for nine banks, to all the banks, so that the export credit offtake for the MSME Exporters can be increased. Meanwhile, bankers suggested that ECGC should adopt claim processing method similar to Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) for which Commerce and Industry Minister advised ECGC to follow a pattern on similar lines to compensate their loss.

Further, the Minister advised the banks to take advantage of the proposed scheme and extend adequate and affordable export credit to MSME exporters. This would enable the country to achieve its target of $1 trillion merchandize exports by 2030. The Minister also advised ECGC to examine 75% claim payment to banks under the ECIB scheme, within 45 days of receiving the claim. The Minister also said that in the next four months, all the ECGC services would be digitized, so that physical interaction can be minimized.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19,159.70, up by 187.60 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 19024.60 and 19160.10. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.59%, Indusind Bank up by 3.04%, Infosys up by 2.84%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.73% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.67%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 1.97%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.93%, Grasim Industries down by 0.62%, NTPC down by 0.50% and ICICI Bank down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Shanghai Composite strengthened 19.68 points or 0.61% to 3,202.06, KOSPI increased 14.26 points or 0.56% to 2,564.28 and Straits Times was up by 3.88 points or 0.12% to 3,211.16. On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 17.93 points or 0.09% to 18,916.43, Taiwan Weighted lost 26.76 points or 0.16% to 16,915.54 and Nikkei 225 was down by 64.49 points or 0.19% to 33,169.65.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 37.21 points or 0.5% to 7,508.90, France’s CAC rose 53.44 points or 0.73% to 7,366.17 and Germany’s DAX was up by 122.61 points or 0.77% to 16,069.33.