Sensex, Nifty extend gains to trade near day’s highs

Extending their gains, Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their intraday high points during early afternoon deals, aided by heavy buying at all sectors, despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments got boost, as India’s services sector activity gained traction in the month of October, aided by healthy customer demand domestically and from abroad. According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 58.5 in October from 57.7 in September. Further, the HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also surged to 59.1 in October as against 58.3 in September.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after the services sector in Japan fell into contraction territory in October, with a services PMI of 49.7. That's down from 53.1 in September, and it falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Business activity fell for the first time in four months, while new business inflows slowed, owed in part to a renewed and moderate contraction in exports. Outstanding business contracted for the second time in three months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80136.33, up by 659.70 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 79459.12 and 80224.13. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged by 1.50%, while Small cap index was up by 1.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.29%, Realty up by 2.93%, TECK up by 2.81%, Oil & Gas up by 2.12% and Utilities up by 2.04%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL up by 3.41%, TCS up by 3.38%, Infosys up by 3.33%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.09% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.80%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.76%, Titan down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 0.70%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.67% and Tata Steel down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) of India and Qatar have discussed methods of effective information exchange and possible areas of future collaboration between the two organisations in the areas of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) between the two countries. They discussed and touched upon various areas such as the IT systems used by respective jurisdiction, Public-Private Partnership initiative of FIU-IND (FPAC), Private-Private Partnership for Alliance of Reporting Entities in India For AML/CFT (ARIFAC), strategic analysis and various tools used by the two FIUs as well as FIU-IND’s experience in area of virtual digital assets service providers (VDA-SPs). Further, methods of effective information exchange were also discussed and deliberated upon. 

FIU-Qatar highly appreciated the IT system (FINNET 2.0) used by FIU-IND and mentioned that it is one of the most sophisticated system used by any FIU. They expressed keenness to further understand the Private-Private Partnership Initiative from FIU-IND which facilitates the collaboration amongst private sector players in AML/CFT regime. In order to provide insights into functioning of AML/CFT stakeholders, two on-site visits were also scheduled for the Qatari delegation by FIU-IND which were extremely fruitful for them. 

FIU-Qatar and FIU-IND have cooperated with each other over the years, through the informal information exchange on offences related to money laundering, financing of terrorism. Both the FIUs are members of Egmont Group and FATF and have been actively associated with various initiatives taken by these international organizations. Apart from the above, in June 2016, both FIUs, in order to bolster cooperation, have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding on information exchange in relation to money laundering, financing of terrorism and associated predicate offence.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24410.40, up by 197.10 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 24204.05 and 24443.05. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 3.98%, Adani Enterprises up by 3.71%, HCL up by 3.43%, TCS up by 3.43% and Infosys up by 3.40%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.78%, Titan down by 1.44%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.11%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.02% and Cipla down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 504.46 points or 2.4% to 20,502.51, Jakarta Composite plunged 64.2 points or 0.86% to 7,427.73, Shanghai Composite weakened 5.48 points or 0.16% to 3,381.51 and KOSPI dropped 13.37 points or 0.52% to 2,563.51, while Nikkei 225 surged 1005.77 points or 2.55% to 39,480.67, Taiwan Weighted added 110.59 points or 0.48% to 23,217.38 and Straits Times rose 10.05 points or 0.28% to 3,591.66.