Local equities trim some gains in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks trimmed some of their initial gains in late afternoon session on account of weak European markets. Traders were seen piling positions up in IT, TECK and Energy sector, while selling was witnessed in Telecom, Metal and Utilities sector stocks.  Some cautiousness came with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has revised its FY21 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast further downward to negative 11.8% from negative 5.3% earlier. However, the rating agency said that GDP is expected to rebound and grow at 9.9% year-on-year in FY22 mainly due to the weak base of FY21. Markets remained in green zone, as traders took some support with report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a special round of simultaneous sale and purchase of government securities (G-Secs) for Rs 10,000 crore each, on September 10, 2020. It has released details of the sale and purchase of securities, which will be done using the multiple price auction method.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as investors anticipated the return of trading on Wall Street after the long U.S. Labor Day holiday. European markets were trading lower, as traders waited for Wall Street’s return after a three-day break.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38630.28, up by 213.05 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 38332.20 and 38746.48. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.56%, TECK up by 1.71%, Energy up by 1.20%, Oil & Gas up by 1.11% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.23%, while Telecom down by 2.01%, Metal down by 0.90%, Utilities down by 0.65%, Capital Goods down by 0.57% and Basic Materials was down by 0.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 4.04%, Infosys up by 2.60%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.37%, TCS up by 2.21% and ICICI Bank up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.48%, NTPC down by 1.41%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.35%, Nestle down by 1.24% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has revised its FY21 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast further downward to negative 11.8% from negative 5.3% earlier. However, the rating agency said that GDP is expected to rebound and grow at 9.9% year-on-year in FY22 mainly due to the weak base of FY21.

India Ratings and Research further noted that the negative 23.9% growth in the first quarter of FY21 is the first contraction in quarterly GDP data series which has been made available in the public domain since the first quarter of FY98.

Besides, the rating agency estimates the economic loss in FY21 to be Rs 18.44 lakh crore. Ind-Ra expects the retail and wholesale inflation to come in at 5.1% and negative 1.7%, respectively, in FY21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11411.45, up by 56.40 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 11328.75 and 11437.25. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 4.65%, HCL Tech up by 3.95%, Wipro up by 2.67%, Infosys up by 2.59% and TCS up by 2.56%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 6.49%, Tata Motors down by 2.38%, Grasim Industries down by 1.95%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.72% and NTPC down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 184.18 points or 0.8% to 23,274.13, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 62.16 points or 0.49% to 12,663.56, Hang Seng increased 34.69 points or 0.14% to 24,624.34, Shanghai Composite gained 23.83 points or 0.72% to 3,316.42, KOSPI rose 17.69 points or 0.74% to 2,401.91 and Jakarta Composite soared 13.87 points or 0.27% to 5,244.07. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 1.14 points or 0.05% to 2,510.07.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 26.52 points or 0.45% to 5,910.88, France’s CAC decreased 59.45 points or 1.18% to 4,994.27, Germany’s DAX decreased 81.96 points or 0.63% to 13,018.32.