Sensex ends the session with 182 points gain

Extending their gaining streak for a second straight session, the Indian equity benchmarks ended Wednesday’s trade on an optimistic note, despite Asian peers ending mostly lower amid the uncertainty over the US-China trade deal.

The markets made a gap-up opening and traded firm, thanks to the Union Minister, Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government has strengthened several trade remedial measures, intending to provide a leveled playing ground for the domestic industry and protect it from unfair trade practices in a time-bound manner. Traders also took note of a report, according to which, the government has categorically stated that it does not intend to revise its fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the current financial year, notwithstanding the slowdown in economic activities. Anurag Thakur, the Minister of State for Finance, said that expenditure of various ministries and departments of the government is as per estimates approved by the Parliament.

The key bourses added more gains in the afternoon deals and traded near intraday high levels, taking support from the report, which states that the Centre is planning to set up a dedicated cell for agriculture startups and small entrepreneurs. Ashok Dalwai, the CEO of the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRRA), said there are numerous areas where startups can help farmers reduce costs and increase income. However, the markets trimmed some of their initial gains in dying hour of trade, as market-men got anxious with the report by CARE Ratings’, which states that the pace of employment growth in India has slowed down to 3.9 per cent in 2017-18 and 2.8 per cent in 2018-19 as the core industries have virtually observed negative growth in hiring.

The BSE Sensex ended at 40,651.64, up by 181.94 points or 0.45 per cent. The broader indices ended in green - the BSE Midcap index rose by 0.23 per cent, while the Smallcap index was up by 0.05 per cent.

The top gaining sectoral indices on BSE were energy, healthcare, oil and gas, industrials, and capital goods, up by 2.03 per cent, 1.91 per cent, 1.35 per cent, 0.70 per cent, and 0.65 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, the top losers were realty, consumer durables, power, telecom, and utilities, down by 1.34 per cent, 0.62 per cent, 0.29 per cent, 0.28 per cent, and 0.11 per cent, respectively.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma, Indusind Bank, Yes Bank, Reliance Industries, and Maruti Suzuki up by 5.73 per cent, 5.50 per cent, 2.65 per cent, 2.47 per cent, and 1.42 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC, HUL, and SBI were the top decliners, with a respective decline of 1.49 per cent, 0.83 per cent, 0.61 per cent, 0.49 per cent, and 0.58 per cent were the top losers.