Local indices remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green terrain in morning deals, led mainly by gains in Telecom, TECK and IT stocks. Traders took some support with data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in the quarterly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showing that unemployment in urban areas fell to 8.4% in July- September 2019 from 8.9% in the June quarter last year. Some support also came as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exhorted large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to achieve by December 75 per cent of their planned capital expenditure (capex) target for 2020-21, to support economic growth hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said banks have covered 1.5 crore farmers under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme to sanction credit limit of Rs 1.35 lakh crore to help them meet financial requirements during the COVID-19 crisis. As part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, the government has announced to cover 2.5 crore farmers under the KCC scheme with a credit boost of Rs 2 lakh crore through a special saturation drive.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, as investors adjusted risk exposure heading into the U.S. election and as a deadline for Washington to pass an economic stimulus bill approached while Europe reported record daily coronavirus infections. Back home, on the sectoral front, healthcare stocks were trading higher as Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala has launched a new scheme, Ayushman Sahakar, under which the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) would extend term loans of Rs 10,000 crore to cooperatives for creating healthcare infrastructure in rural India. The Ayushman Sahakar specifically covers establishment, modernization, expansion, repairs, renovation of hospitals and healthcare and education infrastructure.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40584.78, up by 153.18 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 40305.59 and 40628.47. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.29%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.26%, TECK up by 1.85%, IT up by 1.72%, Capital Goods up by 1.25% and Healthcare up by 0.88%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.89%, PSU down by 0.60%, Bankex down by 0.41%, Energy down by 0.40% and Metal down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 4.32%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.87%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.35%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.17% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.62%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.81%, HDFC down by 1.38%, Indusind Bank down by 1.28%, SBI down by 1.05% and ICICI Bank down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has begun an exercise to assess the impact of the pandemic on the economy and likely contraction in GDP, even as she did not rule out the possibility of another stimulus to boost growth. She said ‘I have not closed the option for another stimulus ... Every time we have announced one, it has been after a lot of consideration... I have not closed the option to come up with one more stimulus.’

She said the ministry has started doing some assessment since the beginning of October and would soon come with a projection. She mentioned ‘we have only now started doing some kind of an assessment. We waited for the commencement of the second half, which has just started. And we have got a lot of inputs which are very different from what we had in July. And ideally, it should be so. Perhaps yes sometime we will have to come out with a statement. Whether I do it in public or do it in Parliament is one thing, but the Finance Ministry will have to make an assessment of what it is going to be.’

Last week, she had announced a payment of cash in lieu of LTC and Rs 10,000 festival advance to the government employees to stimulate consumer demand during the festive season and boost the economy. She also announced additional capital spending and Rs 12,000 crore, 50-year interest-free loan to states to boost the economy that has been battered by the pandemic and the resulting lockdown. These two measures are expected to create a consumer demand of about Rs 28,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11910.95, up by 37.90 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 11837.25 and 11924.30. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 4.23%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.91%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.36%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.20% and Infosys up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Britannia Industries down by 4.80%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.02%, ONGC down by 1.80%, Hindalco down by 1.26% and Indusind Bank down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 126.52 points or 0.53% to 23,544.61, Hang Seng decreased 21.90 points or 0.09% to 24,520.36, Taiwan Weighted dropped 28.21 points or 0.22% to 12,880.13, KOSPI fell 6.19 points or 0.26% to 2,340.55, Straits Times trembled 15.27 points or 0.6% to 2,528.30, Jakarta Composite lost 19.64 points or 0.38% to 5,106.69 and Shanghai Composite declined 4.36 points or 0.13% to 3,308.31.