Benchmarks extend gains in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks added gains on the street in the late afternoon session, tracking strong European markets. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index are also trading above a percent. Traders remain energized with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that economic indicators show that India is ready for a swift bounce back as business activity and demand are back to the level seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. Traders ignored Asian Development Bank (ADB) in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) has forecasted that the Indian economy is expected to contract by 4% during the current financial year, hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. It added that countries in ‘Developing Asia’ will ‘barely grow’ in 2020. However, it also said China is expected to record a positive growth of 1.8% in 2020, sharply down from 6.1% in 2019. Sector wise, Textile sector remained in focus, as India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that textile companies are likely to witness 'huge fall' in their revenue in the first half of 2020-21 (H1FY21), due to the economic slowdown following lockdown to curb the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

On the global front, European markets were trading higher even as coronavirus cases increased in some countries, as markets reassessed expectations for an economic recovery before a key European Union meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34598.70, up by 390.65 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 34136.39 and 34667.76. There were 18 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 1.20%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.36%, Energy up by 4.17%, Oil & Gas up by 2.14%, Industrials up by 1.82%, Power up by 1.34% while, Metal down by 0.14% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 5.79%, Reliance Industries up by 5.20%, Axis Bank up by 2.94%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.42% and Power Grid up by 2.36%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.45%, Infosys down by 1.30%, ITC down by 1.29% and HCL Tech down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens, Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ on June 20, 2020. The villages across 116 districts in the six States will join this programme through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, maintaining the norms of social distancing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This campaign of 125 days, which will work in mission mode, will involve intensified and focused implementation of 25 different types of works to provide employment to the migrant workers on one hand and create infrastructure in the rural regions of the country on the other hand, with  a resource envelope of Rs 50,000 crore. A total of 116 Districts with more than 25,000 returnee migrant workers across six States, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha have been chosen for the campaign which includes 27 Aspirational Districts. These districts are estimated to cover about 2/3 of such migrant workers.

The Abhiyaan will be a coordinated effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments, namely, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10200.20, up by 108.55 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 10072.65 and 10225.55. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 5.62%, Reliance Industries up by 5.48%, Tata Motors up by 5.29%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.73% and BPCL up by 3.25%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.56%, Coal India down by 1.49%, ITC down by 1.37% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.24% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 40.73 points or 0.65% to 6,264.80, France’s CAC increased 34.37 points or 0.69% to 4,993.12 and Germany’s DAX was up by 76.38 points or 0.62% to 12,357.91.