Bourses trade near day's high points in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended their gains and traded near day’s high points in late afternoon session tracking positive cues from European markets. Traders took support as the government sought Lok Sabha nod for a net additional spending of Rs 58,378 crore in the current fiscal. The first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 fiscal was tabled in the lower house of the parliament by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. Meanwhile, coal industry remained in focused as country's coal import has registered a drop of five per cent at 125.21 million tonnes (MT) in the April-September period of the ongoing financial year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after the broad sell-off on Tuesday and following the mixed cues from the global markets overnight. Traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates that led to overbought conditions. European markets were trading higher on rising bets of a peak in global interest rates, led by miners riding on higher metal prices, while Germany's benchmark DAX scaled a fresh all-time high.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69644.99, up by 348.85 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 69395.01 and 69687.91. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.96%, Power up by 2.48%, Oil & Gas up by 1.64%, Capital Goods up by 1.14% and IT was up by 1.11%, while Healthcare down by 0.67%, Telecom down by 0.54%, Bankex down by 0.42%, Realty down by 0.35% and Auto was down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.71%, ITC up by 2.48%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.07%, TCS up by 1.53% and Nestle up by 1.53%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.47%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.23%, ICICI Bank down by 1.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.87% and Axis Bank down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that the Government is working on new technologies such as Small Nuclear Reactors to make clean energy transition, adding that nuclear power is considered as one of the most promising clean energy options for power generation.  

Singh further said ‘there is a thrust world over for a strategy to use nuclear power that could reduce reliance on fossil fuels over the coming years.  Small capacity atomic power plants, popularly called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), with their unique features of modularity, scalability, small footprint and improved safety present themselves as an attractive option for repurposing of retiring coal-based thermal power station sites.’

Union Minister further noted that deploying Small Modular Reactors across the country especially in locations not suitable for large nuclear plants, can produce large amount of low-carbon electricity.  In order to move away from fossil fuel consumption, SMRs can be installed and operated for repurposing the aging fossil fuel-based power plants. However, SMRs are not expected to serve as replacement to conventional large-sized nuclear power plants, which serve as base load plants.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20934.40, up by 79.30 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 20852.15 and 20958.65. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.76%, ITC up by 2.46%, LTIMindtree up by 2.22%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.10% and UPL up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.86%, Eicher Motors down by 1.78%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.59%, NTPC down by 1.49% and Adani Enterprises down by 1.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 670.08 points or 2% to 33,445.90, Hang Seng advanced 135.4 points or 0.82% to 16,463.26, Taiwan Weighted added 32.71 points or 0.19% to 17,360.72, KOSPI increased 1.10 points or 0.04% to 2,495.38 and Straits Times was up by 1.08 points or 0.04% to 3,078.24. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 3.37 points or 0.11% to 2,968.93 and Jakarta Composite was down by 8.95 points or 0.13% to 7,091.91.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 29.06 points or 0.39% to 7,518.90, France’s CAC rose 17.02 points or 0.23% to 7,404.01 and Germany’s DAX was up by 29.45 points or 0.18% to 16,562.56.