Bourses trade at day’s highest levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded at day’s highest levels in late afternoon session on the account of buying in all sectoral indices on the BSE. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with gains of over half a percent. Traders continued to take support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India is expected to overtake Japan and Germany to emerge as the third largest economy in the world by 2027. She said India's economic growth is estimated to be just under 7 per cent during the year, the highest among major economies, despite global headwinds. Meanwhile, the government is considering several measures such as a flexible framework for sale of products manufactured in special economic zones (SEZs) in the domestic market, easy de-notification norms, and streamlining approval processes for units.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as fresh Chinese data showed prolonged weakness in the property sector and dented some of the recent optimism about a recovery in the world's second-largest economy. European markets were trading mostly in red as optimism around a peak in policy tightening and eventual rate cuts stemming from softening inflation across major economies took a backseat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66251.13, up by 575.20 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 65507.02 and 66253.18. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.61%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.80%, TECK up by 2.38%, Consumer Durables up by 1.45%, Healthcare up by 1.22% and Auto was up by 1.17%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.53%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.01%, HCL Tech up by 2.69%, Infosys up by 2.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 1.28%, Axis Bank down by 0.63%, ITC down by 0.31%, JSW Steel down by 0.18% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Mines is planning to promote Research and Innovation in Start-ups and MSMEs and has brought out guidelines for ‘Promotion of Research and Innovation in Start-ups and MSMEs in mining, mineral processing, metallurgy and recycling sector (S&T-PRISM)’.  Proposals will be invited from Startups, MSMEs and Individual Innovators for up to two years duration, which have direct bearing on mineral sector, applied and sustainable aspect of mining and industrial applications, for funding. 

The above decision can enable them to graduate to a level where they will be able to raise investments or they will reach a position to seek loans from commercial banks/financial institutions. The funding is positioned to act as a bridge between development and commercialization of innovative technologies/products/services in a relatively hassle-free manner.

As per the notification released by the Ministry of Mines, the main idea of the S&T-PRISM is translation of research into technology (product/process/services) but not to carry out open ended fundamental research.  Investigations must lead to innovation or new product/process ready for demonstration or pilot scale deployment (not only publication/ patent).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19846.55, up by 171.10 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 19627.00 and 19846.80. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 3.37%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.15%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.96%, Infosys up by 2.83% and HCL Tech up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.23%, Power Grid down by 1.05%, Tata Consumer down by 0.75%, Axis Bank down by 0.63% and Adani Enterprises down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 246.18 points or 1.38% to 17,832.82, Nikkei 225 slipped 95.29 points or 0.29% to 33,424.41, Jakarta Composite plunged 23.75 points or 0.34% to 6,934.46 and Shanghai Composite was down by 21.9 points or 0.72% to 3,050.93, while KOSPI increased 1.51 points or 0.06% to 2,488.18, Straits Times rose 3.63 points or 0.12% to 3,135.75 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 42.4 points or 0.25% to 17,171.18. 

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.04 points or 0.01% to 7,485.87 and France’s CAC was down by 6.79 points or 0.09% to 7,202.82. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 80.64 points or 0.51% to 15,828.81.