Markets widen gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets widened their gains in late afternoon session. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded in green. Traders preferred to buy stock at lowest levels. Traders took note of report that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India currently needs economic freedom to achieve developed nation status by 2047 and assured that the country would move to the third spot in world economy from the current fifth position in the near future. Criticising those who compared India with China, Sitharaman said that certain things could not be replicated from them. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as Chinese industrial output and retail sales figures beat estimates and investors looked ahead to a slew of central bank decisions. European markets were trading mostly in green led by gains in basic resources, although investor caution ahead of euro zone inflation data limited the rise. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72939.97, up by 296.54 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 72314.16 and 72945.17. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.75%, Basic Materials up by 0.96%, Auto up by 0.88%, Energy up by 0.80% and Healthcare was up by 0.78%, while IT down by 0.59%, Consumer Durables down by 0.52%, TECK down by 0.34% and FMCG was down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 5.26%, JSW Steel up by 2.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.90%, Tata Motors up by 2.02% and Sun Pharma up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.31%, Nestle down by 1.14%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.95%, Wipro down by 0.81% and Asian Paints down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to empower consumers and protect consumer rights, the government has launched various initiatives including Dissemination of Indian Standard Time through NTP, an Integrated Price Monitoring Dashboard and CCPA website for seamless redressal of violation of consumers rights. The launch of Dissemination of Indian Standard Time through NTP will enable all mobile service providers to synchronize with Indian Standard Time (IST). This will also aid in synchronizing real-time applications in strategic sectors for national security. 

Further, Integrated Price Monitoring Dashboard will provide with data visualization and analytics along with monitoring the daily retail and wholesale prices of 22 essential food commodities through 550 price monitoring centers set up in 34 states / UT. The dashboard is built as multiple pages with each page serving a specific purpose. The government also launched Video Conferencing Facility in the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which enhances Consumer Protection Act 2019's e-filing provisions. 

The launch of CCPA website for seamless redressal of violation of consumers rights as class will enable swift and hassle free filing of complaints by the consumers on class action basis, while also allowing them to choose nature of case, description of the complaint, upload relevant documents/videos and track the progress of their complaint online, in the comfort of their own homes. Further, the website serves as a unified platform to access several advisories, guidelines and orders passed by CCPA which are detrimental to the rights of consumers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22109.85, up by 86.50 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 21916.55 and 22110.95. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 5.08%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.14%, JSW Steel up by 2.76%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.41% and Tata Motors up by 2.23%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.96%, Tata Consumer down by 1.84%, Adani Ports down by 1.51%, Titan Company down by 1.38% and Nestle down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 1032.8 points or 2.6% to 39,740.44, Taiwan Weighted added 197.35 points or 0.99% to 19,879.85, Shanghai Composite strengthened 30.29 points or 0.98% to 3,084.93, KOSPI increased 19.00 points or 0.71% to 2,685.84 and Hang Seng was up by 16.23 points or 0.1% to 16,737.12. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 2.51 points or 0.08% to 3,170.45 and Jakarta Composite was down by 2.82 points or 0.04% to 7,325.23.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.01 points or 0.09% to 7,734.43 and Germany’s DAX was up by 32.54 points or 0.18% to 17,969.19. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 6.56 points or 0.08% to 8,157.79.