Bourses trim losses in late afternoon session

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66850.68, down by 51.23 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 66610.35 and 67020.11. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 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 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.48%, Consumer Durables up by 1.26%, Healthcare up by 1.08%, Industrials up by 1.06% and Capital Goods was up by 0.98%, while Utilities down by 0.73%, Bankex down by 0.34%, Power down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.08% and TECK was down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 3.26%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.11%, Sun Pharma up by 1.47%, JSW Steel up by 1.23% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.30%, Asian Paints down by 0.95%, Tata Motors down by 0.90%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.88% and Reliance Industries down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Mines Secretary V L Kantha Rao has said that 125 new projects have been taken up in the current financial year (FY24) for exploration of critical minerals. He said there is high demand for critical and strategic minerals, and the demand is usually met by imports. 

He noted that critical minerals are used in various sectors, including renewable energy, defence, and agriculture. He said in a move to boost domestic exploration of critical minerals, the government has announced an incentive of 25 per cent of the approved project cost for exploration agencies. 

Recently, 24 minerals were notified as critical and strategic minerals through an amendment in the mining rule. India has committed to achieving 50 per cent of cumulative installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20094.75, down by 1.85 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 20015.85 and 20136.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 3.19%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.14%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.13%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.11% and Divi's Lab up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 1.58%, Adani Ports down by 1.23%, Indusind Bank down by 1.18%, Asian Paints down by 0.93% and Tata Motors down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 165.67 points or 0.49% to 33,486.89, Jakarta Composite gained 69.11 points or 0.97% to 7,105.20, Taiwan Weighted added 63.29 points or 0.36% to 17,433.85, Hang Seng advanced 49.44 points or 0.29% to 17,042.88, KOSPI increased 15.48 points or 0.61% to 2,535.29 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.98 points or 0.26% to 3,029.67. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 14.18 points or 0.46% to 3,070.52.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 8.18 points or 0.11% to 7,431.64, France’s CAC rose 10.31 points or 0.14% to 7,277.95 and Germany’s DAX was up by 33.22 points or 0.21% to 16,199.67.