Indian equities remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in green terrain in morning session, supported by gains in Healthcare, Realty and Auto stocks amid positive cues from Asian peers. Traders took some solace with data showing that investment in the Indian capital market through participatory notes (P-notes) climbed to over Rs 74,000 crore till August-end, making it the highest level in 10 months. This marks the fifth consecutive monthly rise in the investment through the route, also signaling at growing confidence of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in the local market. A sharp appreciation in the rupee against the US dollar added to the momentum. Indian rupee is currently trading at 73.32 against the US dollar, registering a surge of 33 paise over its previous close. However, gains remain capped as domestic ratings agency -- Icra Ratings has warned that divesting majority stake in state-run lenders by the government will be ‘credit negative’ for such public sector banks (PSBs).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, despite Wall Street declines, but struggled to make deeper gains as worries about a faltering economic recovery kept investors to the sidelines or seeking safer harbour in assets such as the Japanese yen. Back home, on the sectoral front, there was some reaction in insurance sector’s stocks as regulator Irdai is mulling over a plan to allow the tenure extension of COVID-19 specific insurance products as the vaccine for the disease is seemingly away by some more time.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39049.22, up by 69.37 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 39044.80 and 39200.42. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 3.41%, Realty up by 1.14%, Consumer Durables up by 0.91%, Auto up by 0.77% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.59%, while FMCG down by 0.38% and Telecom down by 0.29% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.67%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.41%, ICICI Bank up by 1.15% and Asian Paints up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.33%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.74%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.44% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it will purchase government securities under open market operations (OMOs) for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on September 24, 2020.  The securities will be purchased through a multi-security auction using the multiple price method.  The RBI said the result of the auction will be announced on the same day and successful participants should ensure availability of requisite amount of securities in their SGL account by 12 noon on September 25, 2020.

RBI reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase of individual securities, accept bids for less than the aggregate amount, purchase marginally higher than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off and accept or reject any or all the bids either wholly or partially without assigning any reasons.

Earlier this month, the RBI had on September 7 announced a special round of simultaneous sale and purchase of government securities (G-Secs) for Rs 10,000 crore each on September 10.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11556.60, up by 40.50 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 11550.90 and 11584.10. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 6.15%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 5.93%, Sun Pharma up by 3.52%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.92% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.89%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.34%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.05%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.82%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.75% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 75.65 points or 0.31% to 24,416.50, Nikkei 225 surged 36.21 points or 0.16% to 23,355.58, Shanghai Composite gained 18.58 points or 0.57% to 3,289.02, Jakarta Composite soared 9.40 points or 0.19% to 5,047.80, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 4.81 points or 0.04% to 12,877.55 and KOSPI rose 0.37 points or 0.02% to 2,406.54.

On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 5.17 points or 0.21% to 2,495.61.