Bourses trade near day’s high levels in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded near day’s high levels in late afternoon session amid value buying by investors. There were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. Traders took note of report that India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, in July bought $ 2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China, which remains the largest importer of Russian oil. Russia emerged as India's biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil was available on discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher as encouraging U.S. data on inflation and retail sales allayed recession fears in the world's largest economy but prompted traders to push back expectations for aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. European markets were trading mostly in green after having rallied sharply the previous day on hopes of a soft landing for the world's largest economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80312.56, up by 1206.68 points or 1.53% after trading in a range of 79306.69 and 80319.79. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.57%, while Small cap index was up by 1.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.62%, Realty up by 2.29%, TECK up by 2.18%, Bankex up by 1.66% and Capital was Goods up by 1.64%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.43%, TCS up by 2.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.77%, HCL Tech up by 2.61% and Tata Motors up by 2.58%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma was down by 0.28% the only losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, amid concerns over the spurt in imports of precious metals from the UAE under the trade agreement, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said that India is seeking review of certain provisions of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the UAE, which came into force on May 1, 2022. He said that India is in discussions with the UAE and there are various issues which can be discussed in the review.

Barthwal said ‘As regards Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), there are two things - one is the value addition norms and the second is reduction (of customs duties). So we are in discussion with them and there are various issues which are discussed under CEPA review. So, I think we are seeking a review with them and once we get it, then we will look at all the issues holistically’.

He further noted that ‘When a country give a concessional rate (of duty), there is a condition of meeting rules of origin. So when we do review, we look at all the aspects of it...whether the rules of origin are met or not and what is the future course of action that we will do.’ Further, when asked whether the government is looking at reviewing the new authorisation regime for monitoring imports of certain IT hardware products, the secretary said, ‘When the appropriate time comes, we will take the call’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24506.15, up by 362.40 points or 1.50% after trading in a range of 24204.50 and 24518.20. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 3.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.36%, LTIMindtree up by 3.16%, Shriram Finance up by 3.06% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.89%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 0.64%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.06% and Sun Pharma down by 0.02% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 1336.03 points or 3.51% to 38,062.67, Taiwan Weighted added 454.16 points or 2.03% to 22,349.33, Hang Seng advanced 321.02 points or 1.84% to 17,430.16, KOSPI increased 52.73 points or 1.95% to 2,697.23, Straits Times rose 31.97 points or 0.96% to 3,347.70, Jakarta Composite gained 23.09 points or 0.31% to 7,432.59 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.07 points or 0.07% to 2,879.43.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 20.95 points or 0.28% to 7,444.32 and Germany’s DAX was up by 108.16 points or 0.59% to 18,291.40. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 16.5 points or 0.2% to 8,330.85.