Markets extend gains in late trade

Indian equity markets have extended gains in late trade. Traders opted to buy stocks at lower level following the recent pullback by the markets. Besides, optimism raised in domestic markets after sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya countered Donald Trump's dead economy jibe saying Indian economy is growing at 7% and more than that in dollar terms. Further, foreign funds inflows by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) supported the gains. The FIIs were the net buyer on Friday’s trade, with net buying of Rs 1,932.81 crore.  

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mixed as investors awaits an announcement on whether the August 12 deadline for the US-China tariff truce would be extended. European equity markets were trading mostly in red as investors looked ahead to a Russia-U.S. summit this week that could help stop the war in Ukraine.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80402.21, up by 544.42 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 79772.46 and 80421.52. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.88%, Healthcare up by 0.97%, Auto up by 0.90%, Bankex up by 0.88% and PSU up by 0.81%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.41% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.81%, Trent up by 2.69%, Eternal up by 2.48%, SBI up by 2.37% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 0.34%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.26%, ICICI Bank down by 0.18%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.18% and NTPC down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, former G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant has said that India should never lose its strategic autonomy, never yield to pressure while negotiating trade deals with the US. He suggested that the country should look at a long-term perspective and behave in a calm and collected manner. He said India should use trade-related uncertainties as a unique opportunity to carry out very vigorous reforms in the economy. On August 6, the United States announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on all Indian imports, on top of an existing 25 per cent duty, taking the total duty to 50 per cent effective August 27.

Kant also pitched for radically improving the personal income tax on which a lot of work has already been done. US President Donald Trump's ‘dead economy’ jibe, he said India is anything but a dead economy because India is the fastest-growing large economy. He said ‘we are the fourth largest economy in the world. We will shortly be the third largest economy in the world, more than anything else, India has carried out very major structural reforms in its economy’. He suggested that the government should give a massive thrust to travel and tourism, because it is tariff proof. He said ‘we should be getting tourists from abroad, because there is no tariff’. 

Noting that India is bigger than 24 countries of Europe, he said every state of India must have its brand and every state must push for tourism. He emphasised that India needs just 12 champion states growing at 10 per cent to lift national growth to 9 per cent. He said ‘you already have growth coming from the south and west. Now the opportunity lies in the east. These are mineral-rich states. There's no reason they should not be growing at 9-10 per cent per annum’. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24569.05, up by 205.75 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 24347.45 and 24573.00. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 4.90%, Tata Motors up by 2.76%, Trent up by 2.63%, Eternal up by 2.54% and SBI up by 2.40%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.31%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.25%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.16% and NTPC down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 761.33 points or 1.82% to 41,820.48, Taiwan Weighted added 114.24 points or 0.47% to 24,135.50, Shanghai Composite strengthened 12.42 points or 0.34% to 3,647.55 and Jakarta Composite gained 67.31 points or 0.89% to 7,600.70, while Hang Seng declined 41.82 points or 0.17% to 24,817.00, Straits Times fell 7.57 points or 0.18% to 4,232.26 and KOSPI dropped 3.24 points or 0.1% to 3,206.77.

European equity markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 26.4 points or 0.34% to 7,716.60 and Germany’s DAX lost 90.46 points or 0.37% to 24,072.40, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 14.02 points or 0.15% to 9,109.75.