Indian equities trim gains in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some of their gains in late afternoon session but managed to remain in green territory. Traders were seen piling up positions in Telecom, Realty and TECK sectors while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Energy and Utilities sectors’ stocks. Sentiments were positive after Finance Ministry has said that 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 coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic. However, gains remained capped with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that 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.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as Europe reported record daily coronavirus infections and investors waited for fresh news on U.S. fiscal stimulus ahead of the deadline to reach an agreement. European markets were trading mostly in green as strong earnings from Swiss bank UBS, consumer giant Reckitt Benckiser and others offset concerns from tighter coronavirus curbs across the continent and doubts over fresh U.S. stimulus.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40604.60, up by 173.00 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 40305.59 and 40732.01. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.26%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.24%, Realty up by 2.36%, TECK up by 1.66%, IT up by 1.30% and Capital Goods was up by 1.05%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.29%, PSU down by 1.03%, Energy down by 0.92%, Power down by 0.75% and Utilities was down by 0.74% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 4.22%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.75%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.66%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.66% and HDFC Bank up by 1.72%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.74%, NTPC down by 1.41%, Power Grid down by 1.28%, Tata Steel down by 0.92% and Reliance Industries down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to address societal challenges through digital innovation, NITI Aayog has launched a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) - the first of its kind in India.

This CIC is part of the AWS CIC Global Program, which provides an opportunity for government agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions, to come together on pressing challenges, apply design thinking, test new ideas, and access the technology expertise of AWS. The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC joins a global network of AWS public sector cloud innovation centers across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, and United States.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11907.25, up by 34.20 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 11837.25 and 11949.25. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 4.21%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.80%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.72%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.59% and Asian Paints up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 5.47%, ONGC down by 2.74%, Indian Oil down by 2.15%, Hindalco down by 1.59% and Power Grid down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 104.09 points or 0.44% to 23,567.04, Taiwan Weighted dropped 45.97 points or 0.36% to 12,862.37, Jakarta Composite lost 26.49 points or 0.52% to 5,099.84 and Straits Times was down by 11.64 points or 0.46% to 2,531.93. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 11.67 points or 0.5% to 2,358.41, Shanghai Composite gained 15.43 points or 0.47% to 3,328.10 and Hang Seng was up by 27.28 points or 0.11% to 24,569.54.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 17.99 points or 0.31% to 5,902.64, France’s CAC increased 35.18 points or 0.71% to 4,964.45. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by14.07 points or 0.11% to 12,840.59.