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Indices maintain gains in late morning deals
Aug-20-2026

Domestic equity indices maintained their gains in late morning deals as market participants continued to increase their positions. Positive global market cues and falling U.S. Treasury yields supported domestic market sentiment. Sentiments were further supported by Indian rupee appreciating 9 paise at 95.64 per dollar. Besides, there were encouragements in Markets as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) extended their buying streak for the second consecutive day, buying equities worth Rs 407.99 crore on August 19, 2026.      

Both the Sensex and Nifty were trading over half a percent higher, supported by buying in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services. All sectoral indices on the BSE were trading higher, led by Realty, IT, TECK, Utilities, and Consumer Discretionary. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in the green following positive cues from the U.S. markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77377.41, up by 467.73 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 77371.00 and 77513.99. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.44%, IT up by 1.17%, TECK up by 0.96%, Utilities up by 0.78% and Consumer Disc up by 0.72%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 2.17%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.85%, Infosys up by 1.50%, Axis Bank up by 1.42% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.31%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.39%, Asian Paints down by 0.35%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.27%, Sun Pharma down by 0.24% and Interglobe Aviation down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA has said that electricity grid and energy storage readiness will drive the next phase of renewable energy growth, while the aggressive BESS bidding will keep a tab on project economics.  According to ICRA, renewable energy, including large hydro, will contribute over 35 per cent of total power generation by 2029-30, rising from 22 per cent in 2024-25. It noted the bidding activity has witnessed a slowdown amid challenges in the signing of the power purchase agreements (PPA) and power sale agreements (PSA), as well as delays in ramp-up of the transmission capacity. However, the renewable power pipeline remains healthy with more than 150 GW of projects under construction as on June 30, 2026, which are likely to drive capacity additions over the near to medium term.

As the transmission infrastructure has lagged the growth in generation capacity, there have been issues pertaining to curtailments, especially for projects running on temporary general network access (T-GNA). Thus, timely completion of transmission projects and the scale-up of storage capacity remain critical to sustaining the pace of capacity addition. It said increasing the share of generation from the renewable energy capacity is contingent on the extent of implementation of the ongoing project pipeline (where the projects are bid out and the PPAs are signed), development of adequate transmission connectivity infrastructure and timely bidding for new RE projects, along with signing of the PPAs by central nodal agencies. 

After 40.6 GW of RE capacity was awarded in 2024-25, the bidding activity slumped with only 14.7 GW capacity awarded in 2025-26 and the same continued in the current year with 4.7 GW awards till August 10, 2026.  Further, the unsigned PPA capacity remained sizeable at 40-45 GW as of April 2026. Girishkumar Kadam, Senior Vice President & Group Head - Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said ‘While the bidding activity has moderated, a notable feature is a decline in the bids for normal solar and wind and more focus on firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) and round-the-clock (RTC) power.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24201.00, up by 122.70 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 24184.55 and 24226.85. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 2.29%, Eternal up by 2.27%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.55%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.43% and JIO Financial up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 1.23%, Max Healthcare down by 0.73%, Asian Paints down by 0.67%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.57% and ITC down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Nikkei 225 surged 778.58 points or 1.19% to 66,105.00, Taiwan Weighted added 214.39 points or 0.48% to 44,933.74, Jakarta Composite gained 93.83 points or 1.45% to 6,487.96, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.6 points or 0.04% to 3,896.02, KOSPI increased 343.60 points or 5.04% to 6,814.77 and Hang Seng advanced 302.93 points or 1.19% to 25,798.00. However, Straits Times fell 18.2 points or 0.32% to 5,676.04.
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