Markets trade in high sprit in early deals; Nifty surpasses 12,000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Wednesday following firm cues from global peers. Soon markets add strength and are trading in high sprit with around a percent gains in early deals. Buying in Metal, Bankex and Oil & Gas stocks aiding the domestic indices. Sentiments got a boost with the Commerce and Industry Ministry’s statement that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has increased by 16 per cent year-on-year to $27.1 billion during April-August this year. During April-August last year, India had received FDI worth $23.35 billion. Adding more optimism, ratings agency ICRA said India's economic recovery has broadened and strengthened in September from the pandemic-induced lows seen in April 2020. ICRA said that as many as nine of the tracked 15 non-financial high frequency indicators recorded growth in September 2020, while five posted a narrower year-on-year contraction in that month. Meanwhile, a day after witnessing a significant drop in new Covid-19 cases, India on Tuesday recorded 54,422 cases, taking the tally to 7,649,158. Death toll rose to 115,888.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading higher on renewed optimism about US fiscal stimulus following news that the Trump administration and Democrats in the US Congress have made progress in negotiations. Reports that Moderna's coronavirus vaccine could be available for emergency use in December if it gets positive results from the interim trial in November also aided sentiment.

Back home, agriculture industry stocks were in focus as Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution claimed that the Paddy procurement in current season has exceeded by 22.43 per cent as compared to the previous season and the Government continues to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops on MSP from the farmers. In scrip specific development, Motherson Sumi Systems rose after it signed a pact to acquire assets of Bombardier's wiring systems in Mexico for $10 million.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40948.87, up by 404.50 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 40757.27 and 40964.92. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.70%, while Small cap was index up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.82%, Bankex up by 1.51%, Oil & Gas up by 1.40%, Energy up by 1.33%, PSU up by 1.13%, while FMCG down by 0.16% was the sole losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.94%, Tata Steel up by 2.68%, HDFC up by 2.21%, Axis Bank up by 2.03% and ICICI Bank up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.36%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.40%, TCS down by 0.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.11% and HCL Technologies down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has said that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has increased by 16 percent to $27.1 billion during April-August period of FY21 as compared to $23.35 billion received in same period last year. It noted that the total FDI, which includes reinvested earnings, grew by 13 percent to $35.73 billion. Besides, it said total FDI inflow grew by 55 percent, i.e., from $231.37 billion in 2008-14 to $358.29 billion in 2014-20.

The Ministry stated that FDI is a major driver of economic growth and an important source of non-debt finance for the economic development of India. It has been the endeavour of the government to put in place an enabling and investor friendly FDI policy. It pointed out that the intent all this while has been to make the FDI policy more investor friendly and remove the policy bottlenecks that have been hindering the investment inflows into the country. 

It further said that the steps taken in this direction during the last six years have borne fruit as is evident from the ever increasing volumes of FDI inflows being received into the country. It also said measures taken by the government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country. It added that the following trends in India's FDI are an endorsement of its status as a preferred investment destination amongst global investors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12012.45, up by 115.65 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 11951.80 and 12014.45. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.14%, BPCL up by 2.75%, Tata Steel up by 2.23%, Axis Bank up by 2.21% and HDFC up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.36%, Britannia Industries down by 0.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.60%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.14% and SBI Life Insurance down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 94.94 points or 0.40% to 23,661.98, Straits Times rose 9.28 points or 0.37% to 2,537.92, Hang Seng jumped 178.39 points or 0.73% to 24,747.93, Taiwan Weighted gained 40.35 points or 0.31% to 12,902.72 and KOSPI advanced 7.47 points or 0.32% to 2,365.88. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite fell 1.63 points or 0.03% to 5,098.21 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.75 points or 0.35% to 3,316.35.