Bourses maintain healthy gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade with healthy gains in late afternoon session on account of buying in front line counters. There were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. Sentiments were positive after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's dovish commentary at the Jackson Hole which hinted at a likely rate cut in September. Sector wise, fertilizer sector remains in focused as Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that India's urea industry, which contributes to a significant portion of chemical fertiliser demand, has taken strong strides towards self-sufficiency. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green even as Japanese markets fell notably as the dollar sank to a three-week trough against the yen on dovish Fed outlook and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's hawkish remarks on Friday reaffirming his resolve to raise interest rates. European markets were trading mixed as investors digested weak business sentiment data and looked ahead to the release of a slew of regional data due later in the week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81746.02, up by 659.81 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 81278.44 and 81824.27. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.64%, Realty up by 1.44%, Consumer Durables up by 1.40%, IT up by 1.23% and Oil & Gas was up by 1.22%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 3.02%, NTPC up by 2.92%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.52%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.10% and Titan Company up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Adani Ports down by 0.30%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.23%, Sun Pharma down by 0.18%, Nestle down by 0.18% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal has said that an MSME should not be looked upon as merely a small enterprise, its thinking should not be small or negative since MSMEs are a big force, they are successful, they are the strength of the nation, are giving employment to millions of countrymen and contribute to nation building. 

Commerce Minister further said that innovative ideas and new ways of doing things are the hallmark of the entrepreneurs of MSMEs. He said the entire ecosystem around big industries and enterprises comprises of thousands of MSMEs, without whom they cannot succeed, adding that MSMEs act both as a suppliers and customers of big industries.

Besides, Goyal pointed out that MSMEs play an important role in tourism and infrastructure development of the country and have a big share in India’s exports. The growth of this sector is vital for the country and a focus area for the government. Commerce Minister also said ‘When 140 crore countrymen get together to contribute in nation building, India will become a developed nation by 2047 and we can ensure prosperity for all.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25024.50, up by 201.35 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 24874.70 and 25043.80. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.68%, HCL Tech up by 3.11%, NTPC up by 2.91%, ONGC up by 2.90% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.61%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.28%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.60%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.51%, Eicher Motors down by 0.40% and Grasim Industries down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 186.63 points or 1.05% to 17,798.73, Taiwan Weighted added 82.07 points or 0.37% to 22,240.12, Jakarta Composite gained 62.73 points or 0.83% to 7,607.03, Straits Times rose 6.08 points or 0.18% to 3,394.07 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.15 points or 0.04% to 2,855.52. On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 3.68 points or 0.14% to 2,698.01 and Nikkei 225 was down by 254.05 points or 0.67% to 38,110.22.

European markets were trading mixed; Germany’s DAX was down by 44.14 points or 0.24% to 18,588.96. On the flip side, France’s CAC was up by 9.6 points or 0.13% to 7,586.64.