Bourses trade flat in late afternoon session

In volatile trading session, the Indian equity benchmarks traded flat in late afternoon session. Weakness in select Metal and banking shares dragged key gauges lower, while buying in IT stocks helped markets to trade near neutral lines. Traders were worried with private report that India's economy will grow at a solid pace for the rest of this fiscal year and next but well below its potential rate and the employment situation will improve only slightly. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve would pause its tightening campaign after delivering a 25-bps hike this week. Upcoming ECB and BOJ meetings also remained on investors' radar. European markets were trading mostly in red as investors braced for the busiest week of the earnings season and key central bank policy meetings. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66712.27, up by 28.01 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 66413.67 and 66808.56. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.18%, Capital Goods up by 0.99%, Industrials up by 0.95%, Power up by 0.93% and Utilities was up by 0.88%, while Bankex down by 0.46%, Metal down by 0.39%, Energy down by 0.18%, Oil & Gas down by 0.17% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.00%, Indusind Bank up by 1.67%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.29%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.01% and TCS up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.46%, Reliance Industries down by 1.39%, JSW Steel down by 1.28%, Tata Steel down by 1.11% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to empower farmers and streamlining the operations, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched several new technological initiatives under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. With the current launches, the relentless efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare are now visible in the current tender cycle of 2023-25 and farmer enrolment during Kharif 2023, reflecting the commitment towards empowering farmers and safeguarding their livelihoods.

Several new initiatives launched under PMFBY and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) such as YES-Tech Manual, WINDS portal and door to door enrollment app AIDE/Sahayak, marking a turning point in India's crop insurance landscape. YES-Tech Manual is a comprehensive guide developed after extensive testing and piloting in 100 districts of India. It facilitates the implementation of YES-TECH, a technology-driven yield estimation system, offering methodologies, best practices, and integration insights for accurate yield assessments at the Gram Panchayat level.

On the other hand, the WINDS Portal is a centralized platform that hosts, manages, and processes hyper-local weather data collected by Automatic Weather Stations and Rain Gauges at Taluk/Block and Gram Panchayat levels. The portal enhances risk assessment and decision-making in crop insurance, agriculture advisories, and disaster mitigation, supporting the agricultural sector and rural economy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19749.65, up by 4.65 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 19670.50 and 19782.75. There were 33 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.40%, SBI Life up by 1.98%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.84%, Indusind Bank up by 1.61% and Tata Consumer up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.31%, Reliance Industries down by 1.46%, Britannia down by 1.37%, JSW Steel down by 1.33% and Tata Steel down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 396.69 points or 1.21% to 32,700.94, Jakarta Composite gained 29.96 points or 0.43% to 6,910.76, KOSPI increased 18.77 points or 0.71% to 2,628.53 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 2.91 points or 0.02% to 17,033.61. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 3.59 points or 0.11% to 3,164.16, Straits Times fell 21.31 points or 0.65% to 3,256.99 and Hang Seng was down by 407.11 points or 2.18% to 18,668.15.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 2.55 points or 0.03% to 7,661.18 and France’s CAC was down by 22.5 points or 0.3% to 7,410.27. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 1.32 points or 0.01% to 16,178.54.