Bourses hit record high levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets hit record high levels in late afternoon session. Currently, markets traded near record highs levels as investors continued to hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Traders took support from HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI data. The business activity in India expanded robustly in the month of May, aided by rise in aggregate exports, the steepest expansion in private sector jobs since September 2006 and a notable improvement in business confidence. Although the manufacturing industry continued to lead growth of both sales and output, it was the service economy that was responsible for the latest acceleration in overall economic expansion. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as rate worries lingered and China announced immediate military drills around Taiwan, marking a concerning escalation in the tensions between Taiwan and China, which has long claimed sovereignty over the island. European markets were trading mostly in green after strong forecasts from AI darling Nvidia lifted global chipmakers, while surveys pointing to improving business activity in the euro zone prompted traders to scale back bets of interest rate cuts this year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75321.30, up by 1100.24 points or 1.48% after trading in a range of 74158.35 and 75327.99. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.13%, Auto up by 2.00%, Bankex up by 1.99%, Industrials up by 1.57% and Telecom was up by 1.40%, while Metal down by 0.93%, Healthcare down by 0.47% and Utilities was down by 0.30% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.61%, Axis Bank up by 3.25%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.15%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.97% and Indusind Bank up by 2.71%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.06%, Power Grid down by 3.02%, NTPC down by 0.88% and JSW Steel down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the business activity in India expanded robustly in the month of May, aided by rise in aggregate exports, the steepest expansion in private sector jobs since September 2006 and a notable improvement in business confidence. Although the manufacturing industry continued to lead growth of both sales and output, it was the service economy that was responsible for the latest acceleration in overall economic expansion.

The headline HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index - a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India's manufacturing and service sectors - rose from a final reading of 61.5 in April to 61.7 in May, which indicated the third-strongest rate of expansion in close to 14 years.

The survey further noted that the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI - a single-figure snapshot of factory business conditions calculated from measures of new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times and stocks of purchases - slipped from 58.8 in April to 58.4 in May, showing the weakest improvement in the health of the sector for three months but one that remained strong by historical standards.

The survey highlighted further signs of strength in new export orders across both the manufacturing and service sectors. At the composite level, international sales expanded at the fastest rate since the inception of the series in September 2014.  On the price front, a faster increase in input costs pushed prices charged for Indian goods and services higher.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22927.40, up by 329.60 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 22577.45 and 22940.30. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 5.88%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.62%, Axis Bank up by 3.43%, Adani Ports up by 3.32% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.13%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.99%, Power Grid down by 2.98%, Hindalco down by 2.44%, Coal India down by 1.00% and NTPC down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 486.12 points or 1.24% to 39,103.22, Taiwan Weighted added 55.6 points or 0.26% to 21,607.43 and Straits Times was up by 11.3 points or 0.34% to 3,319.20. On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 1.65 points or 0.06% to 2,721.81, Shanghai Composite weakened 42.15 points or 1.35% to 3,116.39 and Hang Seng was down by 326.89 points or 1.73% to 18,868.71.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 6.77 points or 0.08% to 8,098.88 and Germany’s DAX gained 5.22 points or 0.03% to 18,685.42. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 14.82 points or 0.18% to 8,355.51.