Sensex, Nifty add gains

Indian equity benchmarks added some more gains in late morning deals, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were upbeat, even after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that India's economy is expected to contract by 9 per cent this year -- worse than the 4 per cent contraction it had forecast three months ago. However, it expects India to bounce back with 8 per cent growth next year as the country begins to emerge from the economic devastation caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after industrial production in China was up 5.6 percent on year in August. The National Bureau of Statistics said that blew away expectations for an increase of 5.1 percent and was up sharply from the 4.8 percent gain in July. The bureau also said that retail sales advanced an annual 0.5 percent - also beating expectations for a flat reading after slipping 1.1 percent in the previous month. Fixed asset investment slipped 0.3 percent on year, again beating forecasts for a fall of 0.4 percent after dropping 1.6 percent a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38915.04, up by 158.41 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 38753.68 and 39013.06. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.72%, while Small cap index was up by 1.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.06%, Power up by 1.62%, Telecom up by 1.38%, Basic Materials up by 1.11% and Utilities up by 0.88%, while Realty down by 0.48%, Auto down by 0.27%, IT down by 0.06%, FMCG down by 0.04% and PSU down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.99%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.90%, ICICI Bank up by 1.86%, HDFC up by 1.67% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.44%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.01%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.86%, HCL Tech down by 0.59%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.57% and TCS down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased slightly to 6.69% in the month of August 2020 as compared to 6.73% in July. The retail inflation has grown beyond the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6%. The government has mandated the Indian central bank to keep inflation within the range of 4% with a margin of 2% on either side. Besides, CPI for the month of July was revised to 6.73% from 6.93%. The National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its data has showed that the Rural CPI (General) in August stood at 6.66% as against 6.76% in July. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 6.80% in August as against 6.70% in July.

The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket eased to 9.05% in the month of August. Also, the data revealed that the CFPI for July was revised to 9.27% from 9.62%. Further, the data indicated that the Rural CFPI stood at 9.11% in August as compared to 9.47% in July. The Urban CFPI saw a decline at 8.82% in August as against 8.99% in July.

Segment-wise, the rate of price rise in ‘cereals and products’ category came down to 5.92% during the month under review from 6.96% in July. Inflation in ‘meat and fish’, ‘milk and products’ and pulses categories also slowed to 16.50%, 6.15% and 14.44%, respectively. However, prices of eggs, fruits and vegetables accelerated at a faster pace, with inflation print at 10.11%, 1% and 11.41%. The data also showed that retail inflation in the fuel and light category rose to 3.10% from 2.80%. Besides, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said that the price data were collected from representative and selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all States/UTs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11484.25, up by 44.20 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 11442.25 and 11510.55. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.46%, Cipla up by 3.31%, Sun Pharma up by 1.98%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.78% and ICICI Bank up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.38%, Tata Motors down by 1.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.05%, ITC down by 1.01% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 119.24 points or 0.48% to 24,759.52, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 53.70 points or 0.42% to 12,841.52, Straits Times advanced 15.99 points or 0.64% to 2,498.54, KOSPI rose 12.67 points or 0.52% to 2,440.58 and Shanghai Composite gained 9.26 points or 0.28% to 3,288.07. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 65.14 points or 1.26% to 5,096.69 and Nikkei 225 slipped 110.74 points or 0.47% to 23,448.56.