Indian stock markets were trading in fine fettle in the afternoon session due to heavy buying in Bankex, PSU and Oil & Gas sectors. Buying in frontline stocks such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were aiding sentiments, while selling in TCS, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra kept the gains in check. Traders took encouragement with ICRA Ratings’ report that farm sentiments have remained buoyant mainly driven by healthy monsoon and further optimism of a good kharif crop. It also said agriculture income is likely to benefit over the medium term aided by increased government focus on rural income coupled with the recently introduced farm reforms. Adding optimism, the government said that central public sector enterprises have cleared payments to the tune of Rs 13,400 crore owed to micro, small and medium enterprises in the last five months and Rs 3,700 crore was paid to the units in September alone.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid report that China’s economy continued to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemics. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, Jet Airways touched roof after the committee of creditors (CoC) of the company approved the resolution plan of consortium of Kalrock Capital-Murari Lal Jalan and IIFL Securities traded jubilantly on reporting 2-fold jump in Q2 consolidated net profit.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40333.47, up by 350.49 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 40211.22 and 40519.48. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.54%, PSU up by 1.83%, Oil & Gas up by 1.37%, FMCG up by 0.97% and Metal was up by 0.91%, while Auto down by 1.07%, Healthcare down by 0.67%, Telecom down by 0.62%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.41% and Capital Goods was down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 4.03%, ICICI Bank up by 3.99%, HCL Tech up by 3.58%, ONGC up by 3.27% and SBI was up by 3.17%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.34%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.07%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.06%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.79% and Bharti Airtel was down by 0.68% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding the risk of COVID-19 spreading in rural areas, ICRA Ratings in its latest report has said that farm sentiments have remained buoyant mainly driven by healthy monsoon and further optimism of a good kharif crop. It said agriculture income is likely to benefit over the medium term aided by increased government focus on rural income as well as the recently introduced farm reforms, which are capable of creating increased value in the sector.
The report said the rural household incomes have stayed resilient in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and have been supported by healthy farm cash flows across regions, aided by high levels of rabi procurement under various government schemes after a season of bumper harvest. Further, it said increased government support through schemes like MNREGA and PM-KISAN have helped in creating employment and easing liquidity pressure on rural incomes, brought about by large scale reverse migration from urban to rural areas post the imposition of the nationwide lockdown.
ICRA noted that while the sudden imposition of nationwide lockdown had led to fears of disruption in the Rabi procurement process, the same was mitigated by prompt lifting of restrictions by the government for agricultural activities. Further, it stated that timely and healthy monsoon rain across regions and labour availability has supported early kharif sowing with its acreage at record highs during the current year. It added that the same is likely to result in a healthy harvest for most kharif crops, therefore, keeping the farm sentiments up.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11845.40, up by 82.95 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 11820.40 and 11898.25. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.90%, Axis Bank up by 3.86%, HCL Tech up by 3.65%, GAIL India up by 3.21% and ONGC was up by 3.20%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 3.24%, Divis Lab down by 3.12%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.52%, Cipla down by 1.91% and TCS was down by 1.37% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 5.21 points or 0.22% to 2,346.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 157.97 points or 1.24% to 12,908.34, Jakarta Composite soared 7.65 points or 0.15% to 5,111.06, Nikkei 225 surged 260.50 points or 1.11% to 23,671.13, Straits Times advanced 10.58 points or 0.42% to 2,543.60 and Hang Seng was up by 128.45 points or 0.53% to 24,515.24. On the other hand; Shanghai Composite declined 18.46 points or 0.55% to 3,317.90.
