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Indian benchmarks have continued to trade in the green holding on to their gains in afternoon session on sustained buying by funds and retail investors amid firm Asian cues. Sentiments got some support with industry chamber -- PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s statement that it expects strong GDP growth in the coming quarters with the economic recovery gaining momentum. Traders took note of a private report which suggests that if global prices of crude oil, natural gas, coal & electricity were to stay at current levels till December 2021 and rise by a modest 5 per cent till March 2022, the total potential impact on the consumer price inflation (CPI) back home will be around 1 percentage point. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher ahead of a week packed with major quarterly earnings announcements.

Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 2246 shares on the losing side against 979 shares on the gaining side, while 180 shares remain unchanged. In scrip specific development, Sportking India touched roof on getting nod for installation of rooftop solar power project and Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem traded jubilantly on reporting 9-fold jump in Q2 consolidated net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61071.21, up by 249.59 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 60449.68 and 61404.99. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.86%, while Small cap index was down by 1.68%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Bankex up by 3.15%, while Realty down by 2.54%, Consumer Discretionary down by 1.87%, IT down by 1.74%, Utilities down by 1.61% and Auto was down by 1.53% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 12.42%, Axis Bank up by 4.95%, SBI up by 1.82%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.77% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.60%, HCL Tech down by 2.38%, Asian Paints down by 2.22%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.93% and Nestle was down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government has notified guidelines for the recently announced Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel. In order to boost production of specialty steel in India, attract additional investment of about Rs 40,000 crore and generate fresh 5.25 lakh job opportunities, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the Rs 6,322-crore PLI scheme. The Ministry of Steel said ‘guidelines offer clarity on operational aspects of the scheme such as the application, eligibility, disbursement of incentive and so on’.

It said the five categories of specialty steel which have been included in the PLI scheme are coated/plated steel products, high strength/wear resistant steel, specialty rails, alloy steel products, steel wires and electrical steel. According to the guidelines, a company looking to avail the benefits of the scheme should be registered in India under the Companies Act. Joint Venture companies may also apply for incentives under the scheme. A transparent selection process will be followed to select the eligible company. It said preference shall be given to eligible companies ‘committing to front load their investment during the scheme period’.

As per the ministry, it is expected that the specialty steel production in India will become 42 million tonnes by the end of 2026-27. This will ensure that approximately 2.5 lakh crore worth of specialty steel will be produced and consumed in the country which would otherwise have been imported. Similarly, the export of specialty steel will become around 5.5 million tonnes as against the current 1.7 million tonnes. Specialty steel is a value added steel wherein normal finished steel is worked upon by way of coating, plating, heat treatment, etc to convert it into high value added steel which can be used in various strategic applications like defence, space, power, apart from automobile sector, specialised capital goods, etc.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18154.00, up by 39.10 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 17968.50 and 18241.40. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 12.52%, Axis Bank up by 5.09%, ONGC up by 2.01%, SBI up by 1.79% and Cipla was up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 2.90%, Wipro down by 2.88%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.69%, Eicher Motors down by 2.49% and HCL Tech was down by 2.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Jakarta Composite soared 12.08 points or 0.18% to 6,655.82, Hang Seng increased 24.79 points or 0.09% to 26,151.72, KOSPI rose 17.30 points or 0.58% to 3,023.46, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 5.50 points or 0.03% to 16,894.24 and Shanghai Composite was down by 16.64 points or 0.46% to 3,599.24.

On the flip side; Straits Times trembled 0.86 points or 0.03% to 3,204.28 and Nikkei 225 was down by 204.44 points or 0.71% to 28,600.41.

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