Markets trade near neutral lines with positive bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-positive start on Monday amid weakness in Asian peers. Markets are struggling to find direction and trading near neutral lines with positive bias in early deals. Buying in IT, TECK and Basic Materials stocks supporting the domestic indices, while selling in Telecom, Realty and Energy stocks kept upside in check. Traders took encouragement with report that the Centre is in consultations with the Russian government for exploring the possibility of cooperation between the two countries for advancing the Covid-19 vaccine in India. some support also came in with CII’s business outlook survey’s showing that India Inc’s business sentiment has improved during July-September quarter as the government gradually unlocked the economy and business activity resumed. Though, upside remained capped with India-China border tensions coupled with rising coronavirus cases in the country. The sixth round of Corps Commander-level talks between the armies of India and China is scheduled to be held today. After recording more than 90,000 Covid-19 cases consecutively for five days, India on Sunday witnessed 87,382. The country's tally now stands at 5,485,612, while 87,909 have died from the highly contagious disease so far.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower after US stocks fell for a third day on Friday, reflecting continued weakness among technology stocks and the lack of progress on a US stimulus package. Worries about the global economic recovery and the surge in coronavirus cases across Europe also weighed on the markets. The Japanese market is closed for a holiday. Back home, banking stocks were in focus as domestic rating agency India Ratings and Research revised its outlook on the country's banking sector to negative for the second half of this fiscal from stable due to the likely increase in stressed assets, credit costs and weak earnings. In scrip specific development, HCL Technologies jumped as it intent to acquire DWS, a leading Australian IT, business and management consulting group.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38913.97, up by 68.15 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 38802.85 and 38939.82. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.38%, TECK up by 1.82%, Basic Materials up by 0.37%, Healthcare up by 0.32%, Metal up by 0.30%, while Telecom down by 1.27%, Realty down by 0.65%, Energy down by 0.56%, PSU down by 0.53%, FMCG down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 4.30%, Infosys up by 2.43%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.42%, TCS up by 1.84% and Asian Paints up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.46%, Nestle down by 1.28%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.27%, Power Grid down by 1.25% and ICICI Bank down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur has said that the total non-tax revenue collected by the Central Government, so far, during this financial year (FY21) is Rs 84,023.78 crore (Provisional). He said the total corporate tax collection so far during FY21 is Rs 95,533 crore, while the total GST collection in the current financial year is Rs 3,59,112 crore. Besides, he said the total market borrowings of the central government so far this financial year stands at Rs 7.06 lakh crore.

Thakur has stated that the overall expenditure of government stood at Rs 10,54,209 crore as on July 31, 2020. He also listed out few expenditure items related to fighting COVID-19 pandemic, including Rs 8,575.17 crore under 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness package' to provide support to all states and UT governments for COVID-19 management, National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC), among others, by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The expenditure also included Rs 20.81 crore by Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Rs 102.88 crore by Ministry of Home Affairs and Rs 19.34 crore by Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The minister further said Rs 2,454.56 crore was spent on procurement of masks and PPE Kits for healthcare workers and other frontline workers by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; Rs 1.35 crore by Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and Rs 58.05 crore by Ministry of Home Affairs. Apart from the specific expenditure items, he noted that two packages, one amounting to Rs 1.70 lakh crore under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and AtmaNirbhar Programme, being a special economic and comprehensive package amounting to Rs 20 lakh crore have been announced to fight COVID-19. He added that the total capital expenditure during the current financial year 2020-2021 is Rs 1,11,849 crore as on July 31, 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11513.55, up by 8.60 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 11492.15 and 11530.90. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 4.12%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.34%, Infosys up by 2.29%, Wipro up by 2.05% and TCS up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.87%, Power Grid down by 1.45%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.45%, GAIL India down by 1.30% and Nestle down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng slipped 232.32 points or 0.95% to 24,223.09, Taiwan Weighted lost 41.67 points or 0.32% to 12,833.95, KOSPI inched down 3.41 points or 0.14% to 2,408.99, Jakarta Composite fell 15.53 points or 0.31% to 5,043.69 and Shanghai Composite was up by 13.84 points or 0.41% to 3,324.25, while Straits Times gained 5.38 points or 0.22% to 2,503.09.