Markets extend gains in late morning deals

Indian equity markets extended their gains and were trading higher by over quarter a percent in late morning deals, on account of hectic buying in Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech Cement and Asian Paints companies’ stocks. Traders were getting encouragement as India and the UK have reviewed the progress of negotiations of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), talks for which have reached the final stage. Further, some support also came in as NITI Aayog, the central think tank, is in advanced stages of finalising the year-long exercise of developing a 25-year vision to make India a $30 trillion economy by 2047. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Telecom, Energy, Oil & Gas, Realty and TECK, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Consumer Durables, Consumer Disc, Utilities and PSU. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed ahead of Japan’s BOJ decision and South Korea inflation this week. Back home, in the stock specific development, Mahanagar gas zoomed after its net profit more-than-doubled to Rs 339 crore in the September quarter. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63981.37, up by 198.57 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 63431.45 and 63981.37. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.11%, while Small cap index down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.70%, Energy up by 1.30%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, Realty up by 0.90% and TECK up by 0.41%, while Auto down by 1.39%, Consumer Durables down by 0.63%, Consumer Disc down by 0.41%, Utilities down by 0.35% and PSU down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.53%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.25%, Asian Paints up by 1.03% and TCS up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.31%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.98%, Axis Bank down by 1.57% and NTPC down by 1.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has urged the countries participating in the G7 trade ministers meeting to enhance collaboration on a regulatory framework to facilitate cross border trade. The Group of Seven (G7) trade ministers meeting was held in Osaka, Japan. 

The minister said that under its G7 presidency this year, Japan has invited India, along with a few other invitee countries (Australia, Chile, Indonesia, and Kenya) to participate in the outreach programme held on October 28. In the meeting, he urged the governments to collaborate on a regulatory framework to ease the movement of supply chains and facilitate cross border trade. 

Goyal said the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical events have highlighted the vulnerabilities of the existing supply chains leading to increase in commodity prices and global inflation. The Russia-Ukraine war, conflict between Israel and Hamas and global economic uncertainties are impacting flow of goods across the world. India's exports have also been impacted due to these reasons. He encouraged public-private partnership, investment in critical infrastructure and the need for innovation and digitalisation of supply chains. He highlighted the need for supply chain diversification and skilling and re-skilling of the personnel.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19104.40, up by 57.15 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 18940.00 and 19107.15. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.58%, BPCL up by 2.10%, Cipla up by 2.02%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.72% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.27%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.22%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.97%, Axis Bank down by 1.61% and NTPC down by 1.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 17.38 points or 0.11% to 16,151.99, Straits Times rose 0.65 points or 0.02% to 3,062.50, KOSPI increased 3.25 points or 0.14% to 2,306.06 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.88 points or 0.06% to 3,019.66. However, Hang Seng declined 59.84 points or 0.34% to 17,338.89, Nikkei 225 slipped 301.84 points or 0.97% to 30,689.85 and Jakarta Composite plunged 27.79 points or 0.41% to 6,731.00.