Bourses add points in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks added points in late afternoon session led by sustained buying on banking and metal counters. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with gains of above half a percent respectively. Sentiments continued to get support as Asian Development Bank (ADB) retained forecast for India's economic growth at 6.4 per cent for this fiscal year and 6.7 per cent for the next, as it's bullish that robust domestic demand will continue to support the region's recovery. In scrip specific development, Indusind Bank remain in limelight after reporting 32.45% rise in its net profit at Rs 2123.62 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 1603.29 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, while European markets were trading higher on a boost from shares of Kering after top management changes at the luxury group, while London stocks firmed following data which showed a faster-than-expected slowdown in British inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66883.76, up by 88.62 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 66703.61 and 67117.05. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.54%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.44%, PSU up by 1.11%, Power up by 1.05%, Telecom up by 0.93% and Industrials was up by 0.85%, while TECK down by 0.34%, IT down by 0.26% and Auto was down by 0.06% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.26%, Indusind Bank up by 2.35%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.64%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.57% and SBI up by 1.43%. On the flip side, TCS down by 0.85%, Reliance Industries down by 0.69%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.54% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid increasing global economic uncertainties, the commerce ministry is looking at fixing this fiscal year's export target in a range instead of a single figure and for this, a detailed study on 200 countries and 31 commodity groups is in the process.

Various parameters will be considered while fixing the target range such as the $1 trillion merchandise exports target by 2030; import to GDP ratio of importing countries; export to GDP ratio of India that will tell the potential and past trends.

For a monitoring purpose of exports every month, a fixed number would be required and that could be a mid-value or an average may be accepted. The ministry has though fixed an internal target which has been to export promotion councils and Indian missions abroad.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19775.50, up by 26.25 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 19727.45 and 19841.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.15%, Indusind Bank up by 2.32%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.70%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.58% and Tata Motors up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.09%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.67%, TCS down by 0.63%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.62% and LTIMindtree down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 402.14 points or 1.22% to 32,896.03, Straits Times rose 19.79 points or 0.61% to 3,274.05, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.02 points or 0.03% to 3,198.84 and KOSPI was up by 0.62 points or 0.02% to 2,608.24. On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 63.41 points or 0.33% to 18,952.31 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 111.47 points or 0.65% to 17,116.44.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 105.85 points or 1.42% to 7,559.54, France’s CAC rose 43.85 points or 0.6% to 7,363.03 and Germany’s DAX was up by 37.92 points or 0.24% to 16,163.41.