IGI Logo

Indian equity markets added more gains in afternoon session on the back of sustained buying activities by market-participants with Sensex and Nifty crossing 57,600 and 17,150 levels. Dr Reddy’s Lab was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Hindustan Unilever and UltraTech Cement. In a positive development, FIIs stood as buyers for three days in a row after turning sellers on a sustained basis for many days. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 666.66 crore on Wednesday. Additional support came with private report penning that the ongoing economic recovery will quickly take India above the pre-pandemic levels in most sectors of the economy, adding that the improved health of the Indian financial sector is also a positive factor for economic growth. Investors also cheered with RBI’s statement that India's holding of IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) has gone up to SDR 13.66 billion which is equivalent to USD 19.41 billion as per exchange rate. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) makes the general SDR allocation to its members in proportion to their existing quotas in the multilateral lending agency.

On the global front, Asian share markets were in cautious mood as concerns grew over the Chinese economy after a run of soft data. Home closer, in scrip specific developments, HDFC Life jumped and hits record high ahead of board meet for fund raising and S Chand And Company touches roof on launching web, mobile app ‘SmartK’.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57655.18, up by 316.97 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 57287.79 and 57671.72. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.60%, FMCG up by 1.43%, Basic Materials up by 0.97%, Telecom up by 0.93% and Utilities was up by 0.87%, while Auto was down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.62%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.56%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.49%, Titan Company up by 1.49% and TCS was up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.95%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.84%, Infosys down by 0.73%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.71% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, belying the IMD's predictions for the month of August, India received 24 per cent less rainfall than normal in August, but India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) in its latest forecast for the month of September said it expects above normal rainfall in for the month. IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said above normal rainfall to normal rainfall is likely over many parts of central India in September. The IMD also ‘updated’ the overall rainfall forecast for the season and it is now likely to be around the lower end of normal rainfall.

The IMD said ‘Monthly rainfall over the country as a whole during September is most likely to be above normal (over 110 per cent of the Long Period Average)’. Mohapatra said the monsoon deficit now stands at nine per cent and this is expected to come down due to good rainfall during September. July had recorded seven per cent less rainfall, while June had recorded 10 per cent more rainfall, according the meteorological department. Mohapatra also said that normal to below rainfall is expected over north and northeast India, and southern parts of south India.

He said the latest global model forecasts indicate that prevailing ENSO (El Nino) conditions are likely to continue over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and the negative Indian Ocean Dipole conditions are likely to continue over the Indian Ocean region during September. However, sea surface temperatures (SST) over the central and east equatorial Pacific Ocean are showing signs of cooling and there is an increased possibility of re-emergence of the La Nina conditions at the end of the monsoon season or thereafter. He added ‘As SST conditions over the Pacific and Indian Oceans are known to have strong influence on the Indian monsoon, the IMD is carefully monitoring the evolution of sea surface conditions over these ocean basins’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17180.10, up by 103.85 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 17059.70 and 17182.45. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 7.13%, Shree Cement up by 3.26%, Cipla up by 2.72%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.63% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.84%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.95%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 0.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.83% and Infosys was down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 154.23 points or 0.88% to 17,319.76, KOSPI fell 31.17 points or 0.97% to 3,175.85, Jakarta Composite lost 16.57 points or 0.27% to 6,074.36, Straits Times trembled 1.41 points or 0.05% to 3,086.43 and Hang Seng was down by 4.88 points or 0.02% to 26,009.76

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 26.17 points or 0.73% to 3,593.27 and Nikkei 225 was up by 92.49 points or 0.33% to 28,543.51.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer