INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Tuesday led by gains in HDFC, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys,
Bajaj Finance and Infosys
The Sensex rose as much as 177 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 16,300
Meanwhile, Asian stocks started off on a weak footing on Tuesday after a largely soft performance on Wall Street and as persistent concerns
over the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus dented sentiment and triggered falls in metals and oil prices.As of 9:22 am, the
Sensex was up 174 points at 54,569 and Nifty 50 index advanced 45 points to 16,303.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan declined 0.4 per cent in early trading, with Korea's KOSPI index down 0.56 per cent while China's blue chip index CSI300 shed 0.33 per
cent.Back home, buying was visible across sectors as 11 of fifteen sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher
led by the Nifty Financial Services index's 0.4 per cent gain, Nifty Bank Private Bank, IT, Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil - Gas indexes
were also trading higher.On the other hand, media, metal, pharma and auto shares were witnessing a mild selling pressure.Mid- and small-cap
shares were trading mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.3 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 100 index was trading on flat note.Reliance
Industries was among the top Nifty gainers, the stock rose 1 per cent to Rs 2,098 after its arm Reliance New Energy Solar, along with
strategic investors Paulson - Co
and Bill Gates, and a few other investors, has announced an investment of $144 million in Ambri Inc, an energy storage company based in
Massachusetts, USA.HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Life, Axis Bank, Titan, Mahindra - Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were also
among the gainers.On the flipside, Shree Cements, Power Grid, Grasim, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel, Nestle India, ITC, Britannia and
ONGC were among the losers.The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,377 shares were advancing while 1,246 were declining on the BSE.
