Bourses turn positive in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets wiped out all their losses and turned positive in late afternoon session. Investors were monitoring Q2FY25 earnings. Traders took note of report that government has set foodgrain production target of 341.55 million tonnes (MT) in 2024-25 crop year (July-June). Out of these, rabi season foodgrain production projected at 164.55 MT for the 2024-25. The foodgrain production for kharif and summer season crops are estimated at 161.37 MT and 15.63 MT respectively. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders trimmed their bets on US Fed interest rate cuts this year amid following the largely upbeat batch of US economic data last week. European markets were trading mostly in red amid ECB policymaker Gediminas Simkus said that rates could get lower than the natural level between 2 percent and 3 percent, if a fall in inflation becomes entrenched.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81406.74, up by 181.99 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 80811.23 and 81770.02. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.16%, while Small cap index was down by 1.13%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto was up by 0.49%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.55%, PSU down by 1.17%, Metal down by 1.14%, Basic Materials down by 1.11% and Industrials was down by 1.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 3.14%, Asian Paints up by 1.90%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07% and Reliance Industries up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.82%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.23%, Indusind Bank down by 3.16%, Adani Ports down by 1.87% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional payroll data’ report has showed that 18.53 lakh net members have been added in the month of August 2024, a 9.07% year-on-year growth compared to August 2023, signifying increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives.

According to the data report, EPFO enrolled around 9.30 lakh new members in August 2024, representing an increase of 0.48% in the new members from the previous year in August 2023. This surge in new memberships can be attributed to growing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits and EPFO 's successful outreach programs.

The payroll data further highlighted that approximately 13.54 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. This figure depicts year-over-year growth of 14.03% compared to August 2023. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.
State-wise, net member addition in the top five states/ UTs constitutes around 59.17% of net member addition, adding a total around 10.97 lakh net members during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20.59% of net members during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh individually added more than 5% of the total net members during the month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24860.55, up by 6.50 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 24679.60 and 24978.30. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.37%, HDFC Bank up by 3.10%, Asian Paints up by 2.07%, Eicher Motors up by 1.45% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 6.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.71%, Indusind Bank down by 3.24%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.21% and BPCL down by 2.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 55.26 points or 0.23% to 23,542.53, Jakarta Composite gained 18.52 points or 0.24% to 7,778.58, KOSPI increased 11.10 points or 0.43% to 2,604.92 and Shanghai Composite was up by 6.55 points or 0.2% to 3,268.11. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 25.1 points or 0.69% to 3,615.09, Nikkei 225 slipped 27.15 points or 0.07% to 38,954.60 and Hang Seng was down by 325.65 points or 1.59% to 20,478.46.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 18.26 points or 0.24% to 7,594.79 and Germany’s DAX was down by 56.69 points or 0.29% to 19,600.68. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 17.43 points or 0.21% to 8,375.68.