Benchmarks keep head above water in afternoon deals

Local equity benchmarks managed to keep their head above water in afternoon deals with both Sensex and Nifty were trading above 40,600 and 11,900 marks, respectively. Traders took some solace with Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that the fresh stimulus package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to boost domestic demand will give a much-needed push to economic activity. However, upside remain capped as India's industrial production continued to fall in August but the pace decline slowed due to the gradual relaxation of the coronavirus containment measures. Industrial output dropped 8 percent on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, Supreme Court is set to resume it hearing on a batch of petitions seeking interest waiver during the loan moratorium period on October 13. A bench on October 5 had heard pleas seeking waiver of accruing interest during the six-month loan moratorium period. The apex court granted Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) time to file additional affidavits which are likely to be addressed today.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors were encouraged by strong growth in China's trade in September. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, Hero MotoCorp gained on introducing new special edition of ‘Glamour Blaze’ and Choice International shined after its arm acquires mutual fund distribution business of ‘Bank Bazaar’ .

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40605.36, up by 11.56 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 40468.24 and 40786.82. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 1.48%, Power up by 0.93%, Telecom up by 0.78%, IT up by 0.75% and TECK was up by 0.65%, while Bankex down by 0.55%, Consumer Durables down by 0.50%, PSU down by 0.37% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 4.26%, HCL Tech up by 2.91%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.71%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.39% and Infosys was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.99%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.34%, Titan Company down by 0.85%, Nestle down by 0.77% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid continuing rise in food prices, the inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped to an eight-month high of 7.34 per cent in September. The retail inflation had stood at 6.69 percent in August, while it was 3.99 per cent in September last year. That marked the highest level of inflation recorded since January, and well above the upper end of the RBI's target range of 2-6 per cent.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its data has showed that the Rural CPI (General) in September stood at 7.43 per cent as against 6.66 per cent in August. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 7.26 per cent in September as against 6.80 per cent in August.

The rate of price rise in the food basket was 10.68 per cent in September compared to 9.05 per cent in August. The data indicated that the Rural Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) stood at 10.60 per cent in September as compared to 9.11 per cent in August. The Urban CFPI stood at 10.94 per cent in September as against 8.82 per cent in August.

Besides, the inflation in the vegetable segment was 20.73 per cent in September, way up from 11.41 per cent in the preceding month. The rate of price rise in the fruits was also high over August. Data showed that the rate of price rise in the protein-rich eggs was 15.47 per cent in September compared to 10.11 per cent a month before that. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mainly factors in retail inflation while deciding on the key interest rate.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11948.05, up by 17.10 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 11888.90 and 11988.20. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 4.27%, HCL Tech up by 3.14%, Shree Cement up by 3.12%, Grasim Industries up by 2.23% and Eicher Motors was up by 2.23%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.89%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.27%, Titan Company down by 0.86%, Nestle down by 0.84% and SBI Life Insurance was down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite soared 2.11 points or 0.04% to 5,095.21, Straits Times advanced 13.39 points or 0.52% to 2,565.81 and Nikkei 225 was up by 43.09 points or 0.18% to 23,601.78.

On the flip side; KOSPI fell 0.58 points or 0.02% to 2,403.15, Taiwan Weighted dropped 8.78 points or 0.07% to 12,947.13 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.01 points or 0.03% to 3,357.46.