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Indian bourses continued to trade in green in the afternoon session as buying momentum in the equities persisted, however marginal downfall from day's high levels was seen as selling appeared in realty, power and utilities stocks. Sentiments were upbeat as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that India's growth rate has seen improvement, and the projection for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the financial year (FY) of 2021-22 has been retained at 9.5 per cent. Also, RBI's dovish policy stance kept the sentiment on market bullish. This is the eighth time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, has maintained the status quo. However, upside remain capped as Fitch Ratings in its latest report further lowered India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2022 (FY22) to 8.7 percent from 10 percent projected in June as a result of the severe second virus wave. Meanwhile, RBI to extend the on tap Special Long-Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) for small finance banks (SFBs) till December 31, 2021.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as Chinese markets came back a bit more positive after a long holiday, encouraged by a survey showing services sector activity improving. Back home, in scrip specific developments, Trident touches roof on launching consumer website 'myTrident.com', while Piramal Enterprises tumbled demerger plan of pharma business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59940.56, up by 262.73 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 59830.93 and 60212.30. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.67%, TECK up by 1.36%, Energy up by 0.79%, Industrials up by 0.60% and Capital Goods was up by 0.39%, while Realty down by 2.93%, Power down by 0.94%, Utilities down by 0.62%, PSU down by 0.47% and FMCG was down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.60%, Reliance Industries up by 1.35%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.25%, Tata Steel up by 1.18% and HCL Tech up by 1.12%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.61%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.12%, Titan Company down by 0.81%, Power Grid down by 0.50% and SBI was down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the US has huge investment surpluses which can be used in India for promoting infrastructure investments and also to make India a manufacturing base to help American economy grow and provide goods and services at affordable and competitive prices. He also said that going forward, it is in the interest of both countries to strengthen their strategic partnership into a more comprehensive economic and trade partnership also.

Goyal said India has several goods and services to offer to the US which are needed by consumers there. Apart from pharmaceutical products, he said India can provide trained paramedical staff, IT professionals, textiles, leather, gems and jewellery as these sectors hold tremendous potential in America. He also stated that India is looking at a national infrastructure pipeline, which will provide huge opportunities of over $1.4 trillion to boost investments in the infrastructure sector for which the government here has provided an enabling environment.

The minister said ‘we have more liberal FDI rules, we have reduced corporate tax, we have a simplified tax regime, a single-window clearance mechanism for all approvals, huge land bank to set up manufacturing bases or industrial clusters, we have removed and sorted out legacy issues of the past like the retrospective income tax law.’ He said India is recognised as a major defence partner of the US and can also become a big market for American companies in other sectors. Talking about areas for increasing cooperation, he said that sectors like electronics, pharma and healthcare, space and biotechnology hold tremendous potential.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17864.75, up by 74.40 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 17848.15 and 17941.85. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.73%, Tata Motors up by 1.77%, Infosys up by 1.57%, Reliance Industries up by 1.40% and Tech Mahindra was up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.07%, NTPC down by 1.47%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09%, Divi's Lab down by 0.86% and Tata Consumer Products was down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 370.73 points or 1.34% to 28,048.94, Hang Seng increased 61.21 points or 0.25% to 24,762.94, Straits Times advanced 6.25 points or 0.2% to 3,107.40, Shanghai Composite gained 19.20 points or 0.54% to 3,587.37 and Jakarta Composite was up by 54.14 points or 0.84% to 6,470.54.

On the flip side; KOSPI fell 3.16 points or 0.11% to 2,956.30 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 73.43 points or 0.44% to 16,640.43.

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