Sensex, Nifty hold gains in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were holding gains in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading on a higher note. Trade over the Dalal Street remained in green terrain despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were optimistic, as markets regulator SEBI allowed exchanges dealing with agri-commodity derivatives to utilise the fund created for farmers and FPOs for reimbursement of mandi tax and charges incurred by them on storage and transportation of goods. The decision was taken based on the recommendations of the Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee (CDAC).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, after China's central bank left its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the sixth consecutive month after the official data revealed that the economic growth gained further momentum in the third quarter. The one-year loan prime rate was retained at 3.85 percent and the five-year loan prime rate was maintained at 4.65 percent. The one-year and five-year loan prime rates were last reduced in April. The one-year loan prime rate was lowered by 20 basis points and five-year rate by 10 basis points in April.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40680.55, up by 248.95 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 40305.59 and 40692.20. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.38%, TECK up by 1.80%, IT up by 1.47%, Capital Goods up by 1.25% and Realty up by 1.08%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.67%, Energy down by 0.62%, PSU down by 0.45%, Metal down by 0.40% and Power down by 0.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 4.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.55%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.96% and HDFC Bank up by 1.62%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.88%, Tata Steel down by 0.99%, NTPC down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.81% and Reliance Industries down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to support economic growth hit by the COVID-19 crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exhorted large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to achieve by December 75 per cent of their planned capital expenditure (capex) target for 2020-21. She held a virtual meeting with secretaries of coal and petroleum & natural gas, along with the chairman and managing directors (CMDs) of 14 CPSEs belonging to these ministries. This was the fourth in the ongoing series of meetings that the finance minister is having with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reviewing the performance of CPSEs, Sitharaman said capex by CPSEs is a critical driver of economic growth and needs to be scaled up for the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22. The finance minister asked the concerned secretaries to closely monitor the performance of CPSEs in order to ensure the capital expenditure to the tune of 75 per cent of the capital outlay by the end of the third quarter of 2020-21 and make appropriate plan for it. She expounded that more co-ordinated efforts are required at the levels of secretary of concerned ministries and CMDs of CPSEs to achieve capex targets.

In 2019-20, against the capex target of Rs 1,11,672 crore for these 14 CPSEs, the achievement was Rs 1,16,323 crore that is 104 per cent. The capex target is pegged Rs 1,15,934 crore for these companies for the current financial year. The achievement in the first half of the current financial year stood at Rs 37,423 crore (32 per cent of the target), while it was Rs 43,097 crore (39 per cent) in the previous financial year. While mentioning the significant role of CPSEs in giving a push to the growth of the Indian economy, the finance minister encouraged the CPSEs to perform better to achieve their targets and ensure that the capital outlay for 2020-21 is spent properly and within time. She said better performance of CPSEs can help the economy in a big way to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11932.55, up by 59.50 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 11837.25 and 11940.10. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 4.10%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.71%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.00%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.09% and HDFC Bank up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 5.04%, ONGC down by 2.09%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.43%, Hindalco down by 1.29% and Tata Steel down by 1.05% 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.