Domestic bourses maintain momentum

Domestic bourses continued to trade in fine contour in afternoon deal, on account of broad based buying in blue chip counters amid positive Asian cues. Sentiments remained up-beat as in a relief to individual borrowers and medium and small industries, the Centre has agreed in the Supreme Court to waive compound interest (interest on interest) charged on loans of up to Rs 2 crores for a six-month moratorium period announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional support also came with Finance Ministry’s statement that the month of September has exhibited credible signs of economic growth towards normalcy and the government is not averse to taking any further measures to ameliorate the suffering of people. Among blue chip stocks, TCS was top gainer trading up by 5.77%, while Hindustan Unilever was top loser down by 1.50%.

On the global front; Asian markets were trading firm with optimism that US President Donald Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week, may be discharged from hospital later today, which eased some of the political uncertainty surrounding the US presidential election in November. Back home, TCS surged after the company said it will consider a buyback on October 7, 2020 and ITI gained on signing contract worth Rs 7,796 crore with Ministry of Defense. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39120.89, up by 423.84 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 38923.19 and 39263.85. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.27%, TECK up by 2.70%, Metal up by 1.68%, Bankex up by 1.61% and Realty was up by 0.68%, while Utilities down by 0.52%, Auto down by 0.37%, Telecom down by 0.28%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.18% and PSU was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 5.77%, Tata Steel up by 4.48%, Infosys up by 2.34%, ICICI Bank up by 2.34% and Indusind Bank was up by 1.92%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.50%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.40%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.10%, NTPC down by 1.00% and Asian Paints was down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce Ministry in its latest data has showed that India’s merchandise exports snapped six-month losing streak and grew by 5.27 percent to $27.4 billion in September 2020 as compared to $ 26.02 billion in the same month a year ago. Key sectors such as petroleum, leather, engineering goods and gems and jewellery were registering negative growth rates. Exports during April-September 2020-21 were $125.06 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of 21.43 percent over the same period last year. Trade deficit, gap between imports and exports, narrowed to $2.91 billion in September 2020 from $11.67 billion a year ago.

In September 2020, the value of non-petroleum exports was $23.81 billion, registering a positive growth of 5.44 percent over September 2019. The value of non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in September 2020 was $21.11 billion, as compared to $19.00 billion in September 2019, registering a positive growth of 11.12 percent. The cumulative value of non-petroleum and non-gems and jewellery exports in April-September 2020-21 was $104.35 billion, as compared to $118.65 billion for the corresponding period in 2019-20, exhibiting a decrease of 12.05 percent.

On the other hand, imports during September 2020 decreased by 19.60% to $30.31 billion as compared to $37.69 billion in September 2019. Imports during April-September 2020-21 were $148.69 billion, as compared to $248.08 billion during the same period last year, exhibiting a negative growth of 40.06 percent. In September 2020, Oil imports were $5.82 billion, as compared to $9.09 billion in September 2019, a decline by 35.92 percent. Oil imports in April-September 2020-21 were $31.85 billion, as compared to $65.20 billion, showing a decline of 51.14 percent.  Non-oil imports in September 2020 were estimated at $24.48 billion, as compared to $28.61 billion in September 2019, showing a decline of 14.41 percent.

Non-oil imports in April-September 2020-21 were $116.83 billion, as compared to $182.88 billion, registering a decline of 36.12 percent during the same period of the last year.  Non-oil and non-gold imports were $21.80 billion in September 2020, recording a negative growth of 13.29 percent, as compared to non-oil and non-gold imports of $25.14 billion in September 2019. Non-oil and non-gold imports were $104.85 billion in April-September 2020-21, recording a negative growth of 32.64 percent, as compared to non-oil and non-gold imports of $155.66 billion in April-September 2019-20.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11537.20, up by 120.25 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 11476.45 and 11578.05. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 5.94%, TCS up by 5.92%, Tata Steel up by 4.47%, Infosys up by 2.43% and ICICI Bank was up by 2.38%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 2.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.62%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.53%, GAIL India down by 1.41% and Grasim Industries was down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Straits Times advanced 14.20 points or 0.57% to 2,510.31, Jakarta Composite soared 23.32 points or 0.47% to 4,950.05, KOSPI rose 30.11 points or 1.29% to 2,358.00, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 32.67 points or 0.26% to 12,548.28, Hang Seng increased 321.98 points or 1.37% to 23,781.03 and Nikkei 225 was up by 282.24 points or 1.23% to 23,312.14.