Bourses trim gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets trimmed most of their gains in late afternoon session but continued to trade in green amid RBI governor Shaktikanta Das announced that the RBI MPC has decided to hold rates at 6.5 per cent. Investors are now focusing on upcoming inflation data and corporate earnings. Sector wise, Education sector remained in focus as CRISIL Ratings in its latest report has said that schools and colleges will report 12-14% revenue growth this fiscal (FY25), riding on higher enrolments, which allows for upward fee revisions, and students scouting for new course offerings. The growth will be despite the high base following three consecutive years of high-teen growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as China's stimulus rally fizzled out, the conflict in the Middle East persisted and investors awaited Federal Reserve meeting minutes as well as U.S. inflation data for interest rate clues. European markets were trading mostly in green after reports emerged that China's finance ministry will convene a press conference on Saturday to introduce work on strengthening countercyclical adjustments of fiscal policy and promoting economic development.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81743.33, up by 108.52 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 81649.25 and 82319.21. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.28%, while Small cap index was up by 1.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.43%, Healthcare up by 2.07%, Power up by 1.59%, Consumer Disc up by 1.40% and Auto was up by 1.32%, while FMCG down by 0.68%, Energy down by 0.26% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.18% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.73%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.35%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.27%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.01% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.09%, ITC down by 1.83%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.10%, Reliance Industries down by 0.95% and HDFC Bank down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Finance has said that the total gross enrolments under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have crossed 7 crore, with an enrolment of over 56 lakh in the current Financial Year 2024-25. The scheme is in its 10th year of rollout, and has achieved a big milestone by bringing in the most vulnerable sections of society under the coverage of pension which has been made possible with the untiring efforts of all the Banks and SLBCs/UTLBCs.

It said that the Pension Fund and Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA), in the recent past, has taken several initiatives for awareness creation of the scheme i.e., conducting APY Outreach Programmes at State and District levels, organising awareness and training programmes, publicity through various media channels, releasing a one-pager simple APY flyer/handout in Hindi, English, and 21 regional languages, and regular performance review.

APY has been designed in such a way that it provides Sampurna Suraksha Kavach to not only the subscriber by providing a life-long defined and guaranteed pension amount, but also to the spouse by providing the same pension amount after the demise of the subscriber and then to the family by returning the entire corpus (accumulated till the age of 60 years) to the nominee after the death of the subscriber and spouse.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25040.40, up by 27.25 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 25031.35 and 25234.05. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.52%, Tata Motors up by 2.76%, Trent up by 2.53%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.21% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.08%, ITC down by 1.84%, Britannia down by 1.36%, ONGC down by 1.26% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 340.42 points or 0.87% to 39,277.96, Taiwan Weighted added 47.69 points or 0.21% to 22,659.08 and Straits Times was up by 21.21 points or 0.59% to 3,596.90. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 39.21 points or 0.52% to 7,517.93, Shanghai Composite weakened 230.92 points or 7.09% to 3,258.86 and Hang Seng was down by 289.55 points or 1.4% to 20,637.24.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 29.78 points or 0.36% to 8,220.39 and France’s CAC was up by 6.94 points or 0.09% to 7,528.26. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 2.16 points or 0.01% to 19,064.31.