Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon session. Realty, Consumer Durables and Metal were the prime gainers among heavy-weights, pushing the markets higher. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading over a percent. On the sectoral front, power and coal sector remained in focused, as power Minister R K Singh exuded confidence that there will be no power shortage in the country amid the ongoing low coal stocks at power plants and stressed on timely payments by distribution companies to the plants for electricity supplied to them. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following fresh records on Wall Street, with healthy corporate earnings overshadowing ongoing concerns about inflation, while progress in Washington on Joe Biden's big-spending economic plans also provided support. European stock markets traded higher helped by strong numbers from Swiss banking giant UBS.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61296.08, up by 329.03 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 60791.29 and 61404.87. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.43%, while Small cap index was up by 1.88%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.07%, Consumer Durables up by 2.38%, Metal up by 2.38%, Basic Materials up by 2.27% and Energy was up by 1.72%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.27%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.24%, Tata Steel up by 2.97%, Nestle up by 2.71% and Titan Company up by 2.65%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.34%, ICICI Bank down by 1.59%, Power Grid down by 1.22%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.11% and NTPC down by 0.42% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, with an aim to give a fillip to capital expenditure (CAPEX) and infrastructure progress in the country, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman held review meetings with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
In the meeting, the Finance Minister emphasised that there must be an accelerated phase of infrastructure development and Ministries must continuously make concerted efforts to ensure that project implementation is fast-tracked.
Besides, the Finance Minister exhorted officials to monitor implementation of projects besides monitoring release of funds. Sitharaman reiterated that infrastructure projects are priority for the Government and necessary funds will be made available for CAPEX.
Further, Sitharaman underlined that the infrastructure spending includes not only Central Government budgetary expenditure on infrastructure, but also spending by State Governments and the private sector. The private CAPEX on infrastructure, and those under Public-Private Partnership should also be tracked to capture the entire infra progress in the country.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18246.35, up by 120.95 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 18099.30 and 18265.20. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.56%, SBI Life up by 4.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.46%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.22% and Tata Steel up by 3.09%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.39%, ICICI Bank down by 1.67%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.16%, Power Grid down by 1.12% and Adani Ports down by 0.80% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 505.60 points or 1.77% to 29,106.01, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 140.10 points or 0.83% to 17,034.34, Jakarta Composite soared 31.24 points or 0.47% to 6,656.94, KOSPI rose 28.54 points or 0.94% to 3,049.08 and Straits Times advanced 3.12 points or 0.1% to 3,204.98. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 12.22 points or 0.34% to 3,597.64 and Hang Seng was down by 93.76 points or 0.36% to 26,038.27.
European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 46.38 points or 0.64% to 7,269.20, France’s CAC increased 44.50 points or 0.66% to 6,757.37 and Germany’s DAX was up by 151.71 points or 0.97% to 15,750.94.
