Bourses extend upward trend in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended their upward trend in late afternoon session amid value buying. IT, Auto and banking counters were on the priority list of the buyers. Traders took support after a U.S. Federal Reserve official made fresh hints of interest rate cuts. Meanwhile, the government has extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme to provide 5 kilogrammes of free foodgrains per month to around 80 crore poor people for another five years. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days. European markets were trading mostly in green as regional markets regained some positive momentum and as investors assessed comments from U.S. Federal Reserve board members.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66769.18, up by 594.98 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 66374.52 and 66830.34. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.74%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.40%, IT up by 1.24%, TECK up by 1.14%, Bankex up by 1.06% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.94%, while Realty down by 0.54% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.26%, Axis Bank up by 2.56%, Wipro up by 2.27%, Tata Motors up by 2.21% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.80%, Indusind Bank down by 0.39%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.21%, Titan Company down by 0.10% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, all India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has demanded an independent enquiry into shortage of coal at various thermal power plants as well as the imports of dry fuel in the country. It also said the central government should bear the additional cost of coal imports by power generation utilities. It also said that certain entities are benefitting from rising coal imports and demand from a number of power producers leads to an increase in the price of the dry fuel in the international market.

According to AIPEF, imports of coal have increased after the government has made it mandatory for imported coal based plant to run with full capacity and instructed the domestic coal based plants to increase blending of imported coal from 4 per cent to 6 per cent. In case the import of fuel is made mandatory for generation companies (gencos) then the Government of India should bear the additional cost so that it is not passed on to distribution companies (discoms) and the consumers. Also, it pointed out that power stations were required to install a system for sulphur removal since imported coals have sulphur content unlike Indian coals.  

In March 2023, the government issued a directive under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, asking imported coal-based (ISB) power plants to operate at full capacity amid a surge in electricity demand and inadequate domestic coal supplies. Initially, the validity of the order was from March 16 to June 15, 2023. It was later extended till June 2024.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20060.50, up by 170.80 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 19956.30 and 20075.65. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.37%, Axis Bank up by 2.51%, Wipro up by 2.38% and Tata Motors up by 2.27%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 0.98%, Nestle down by 0.80%, Eicher Motors down by 0.74%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.70% and Indusind Bank down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite plunged 8.2 points or 0.12% to 7,032.87, KOSPI dropped 1.95 points or 0.08% to 2,519.81, Shanghai Composite weakened 16.86 points or 0.56% to 3,021.69, Nikkei 225 slipped 87.17 points or 0.26% to 33,321.22 and Hang Seng was down by 360.7 points or 2.12% to 16,993.44. On the flip side, Straits Times rose 23.17 points or 0.75% to 3,089.11 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 29.31 points or 0.17% to 17,370.56.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 20.85 points or 0.29% to 7,270.98 and Germany’s DAX was up by 105.51 points or 0.66% to 16,098.18. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 23 points or 0.31% to 7,432.24.