Benchmarks continue to show positive trend

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a positive trend in late afternoon session with gains of over half a percent. Sentiments got boost after private report stated that India is working on offering production-linked incentives for up to five sectors to boost domestic manufacturing. Some support also came with Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian’s statement that the government may announce more fiscal measures to boost demand once the uncertainty related to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic wanes. Sector wise, telecom stocks remained in focus with the Department of Telecom (DoT) ordering that telecom operators will now have to provide the location grid of the premises of bulk subscribers during physical verification for issuing new connections.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher, as better-than-expected corporate earnings offset worries about rising cases of COVID-19 and a sharp escalation in tensions between the United States and China.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38145.28, up by 273.76 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 37738.59 and 38169.48. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.93%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.89%, Realty up by 1.34%, Oil & Gas up by 1.33%, Healthcare up by 1.28% and PSU was up by 1.27%, while IT down by 0.74%, TECK down by 0.70% and Telecom was down by 0.34% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.66%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.65%, ITC up by 2.24%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.22% and Reliance Industries up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.30%, Infosys down by 1.52%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.89%, TCS down by 0.75% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pointing towards positive signs on the revenue collection front, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said that monetisation of debt is not on the government's agenda at the moment. He said that revenues are going up and the government has also realised some extra revenue from excise on petrol and diesel.

Bajaj also underlined the government’s efforts in order to boost manufacturing, saying that the government has already announced production linked incentives for mobile and medical equipment and pharma. The government is working on extending the scheme to another 4-6 sunrise sectors with a lot of export potential.

Pinning hopes on the agriculture sector, he said that it is one bright spot even in this difficult period. Bajaj further noted that production of Rabi crop was good, and Kharif is also expected to be good. Although agriculture is not contributing to the GDP significantly, it still looks after about 40 per cent of population, who are directly dependent on this sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11218.05, up by 85.45 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 11103.15 and 11226.55. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.69%, Indian Oil up by 2.93%, SBI up by 2.71%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.60% and ITC up by 2.29%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.33%, Shree Cement down by 1.73%, Infosys down by 1.25%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.96% and TCS down by 0.88% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 51.00 points or 0.82% to 6,258.10, France’s CAC increased 36.56 points or 0.73% to 5,073.68 and Germany’s DAX was up by 88.87 points or 0.68% to 13,193.12.