Bourses continue gaining momentum in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their gaining momentum in late afternoon session amid value buying. There were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. Traders continued to take support as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its data on balance of payments, has said that India's current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to $10.5 billion or 1.2 per cent of GDP in the October-December quarter (Q3FY24) as against $11.4 billion or 1.3 per cent in the preceding three months ending September. The narrowing in the CAD was much sharper when compared to $16.8 billion or 2 per cent for the October-December 2022 period. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Chinese and Hong Kong markets leading regional losses on growth worries while Japanese stocks rallied on yen weakness amid dovish BOJ talk. European markets were trading mostly in red after closing at record high in the previous session, as investors awaited more economic data due this week, while H&M shares jumped on upbeat quarterly results.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73110.11, up by 639.81 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 72600.73 and 73138.73. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.74%, Capital Goods up by 1.45%, Energy up by 1.45%, Realty up by 1.32% and Industrials was up by 1.28%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.88%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.81%, Sun Pharma up by 1.71%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.59% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.36%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.93%, Nestle down by 0.83%, Wipro down by 0.81%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.38% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, S&P Global Ratings in its latest report has said that India's financial system regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is showing a serious commitment to improving governance and transparency at finance companies and banks. 

The report further noted that the recent measures by the RBI will curtail lenders' over-exuberance, enhance compliance culture, and safeguard customers, but the drawback will be higher capital costs for institutions.  According to S&P, the RBI has diminishing tolerance for non-compliance, customer complaints, data privacy, governance, know-your-customer (KYC), and anti-money laundering issues.

Further, rating agency said that some retail loans, such as personal loans, loans against property, and gold loans, may be diverted to invest in stock markets. It is difficult to ascertain the end-use of money in these products, but market participants believe that the RBI and market regulator Securities And Exchange Board of India want to protect small investors by scrutinising these activities more cautiously.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22179.05, up by 174.35 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 22052.85 and 22193.60. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.88%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.56%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.86%, Adani Ports &Special up by 2.44% and Sun Pharma up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.13%, LTIMindtree down by 1.11%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.08%, SBI down by 0.95% and Tata Consumer down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 225.48 points or 1.38% to 16,392.84, Jakarta Composite plunged 57.78 points or 0.78% to 7,307.88, Shanghai Composite weakened 38.34 points or 1.28% to 2,993.14 and KOSPI was down by 1.98 points or 0.07% to 2,755.11. On the flip side, Straits Times rose 14.93 points or 0.46% to 3,248.26, Taiwan Weighted added 73.63 points or 0.36% to 20,200.12 and Nikkei 225 was up by 364.7 points or 0.89% to 40,762.73.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 14.53 points or 0.18% to 7,916.43 and France’s CAC was down by 1.14 points or 0.01% to 8,183.61. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 34.97 points or 0.19% to 18,419.32.