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Indian equity markets remained well entrenched in positive territory in the afternoon session amid strong and sustained buying in blue chip stocks. The Sensex climbed 1121 points, while Nifty breached 16650 mark. Sentiments were upbeat as RBI data showed that India’s forex reserves increased by $4.23 billion to $597.509 billion for the week ended May 20 on the back of a high accretion of core currency assets. Additional support came as minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel said India is fast-tracking negotiations for proposed free trade agreements with certain developed countries like the UK as well as with the European Union, and maybe by this year end, the government would be able to give a final shape to few of these pacts.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher amid easing concerns about interest rate hikes as data from the U.S. showed a slowdown in U.S. core consumer price growth in the month of April. Back home, broader indices were trading higher by around two percent each. With extensive buying, all the sectoral indices were trading in green with impressive gains. IRCTC, LIC, Trident, Jubilant FoodWorks, Lux Industries and Sun Pharma were in focus on account of March quarter earnings announcement. The market breadth on BSE was positive, 2322 stocks advanced, while 998 stocks declined on the BSE, while 168 stocks remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56005.74, up by 1121.08 points or 2.04% after trading in a range of 55466.30 and 56082.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.89%, while Small cap index was up by 2.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.90%, TECK up by 3.60%, Consumer Durables up by 3.52%, Realty up by 3.34% and Capital Goods was up by 2.74%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.80%, HCL Tech. up by 4.53%, Infosys up by 4.35%, Titan Co up by 4.34% and Tech Mahindra was up by 3.53%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.86%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.56%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.43% and ITC was down by 0.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of state for commerce and industry Anupriya Patel has said that India is fast-tracking negotiations for proposed free trade agreements (FTAs) with certain developed countries like the UK as well as with the European Union, and maybe by this year end, the government would be able to give a final shape to few of these pacts.

The minister also expressed hope that the trade pact with Australia would be operationalised ‘very soon’.  She also said India has already implemented a trade agreement with the UAE. She said these agreements will create better opportunities for domestic businesses.

Meanwhile, the minister has launched the Indian Business Portal of exporters' body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). She said the portal is a B2B digital marketplace to empower SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally. She also said that the portal will address issues like digitising exporters, supporting MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and encouraging greater exports of products made in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16666.60, up by 314.15 points or 1.92% after trading in a range of 16506.15 and 16695.50. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.84%, HCL Tech up by 4.43%, Infosys up by 4.27%, Titan Co up by 4.16% and TCS was up by 3.54%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.99%, ONGC down by 1.36%, Sun Pharma down by 0.93%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.69% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Hang Seng increased 420.48 points or 2.03% to 21,117.84, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 344.40 points or 2.12% to 16,610.62, KOSPI rose 31.94 points or 1.21% to 2,669.99, Straits Times advanced 7.90 points or 0.24% to 3,238.45, Nikkei 225 surged 587.75 points or 2.19% to 27,369.43 and Shanghai Composite was up by 12.43 points or 0.4% to 3,142.67. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 36.09 points or 0.51% to 6,990.17.

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