Benchmarks turn positive in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks have pared all their early losses and entered into positive trajectory in late afternoon session with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 100 and 50 points, respectively. The markets took support, as Indian manufacturing activity continued to improve in the month of October, amid robust sales growth. As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - jumped to 58.9 in October as against 56.8 in September. Growth was led by the intermediate goods category, but there were also robust expansions in the consumer and investment goods sub-sectors. Adding some optimistic, Ministry of Finance has said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections for the month of October 2020 were Rs 1,05,155 crore, which is 10 percent higher than October 2019. This made it the first time monthly revenues crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in FY21.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green following last week's painful global sell-off, with attention on the American presidential election which comes against a backdrop of rising coronavirus infections across the United States and Europe. European markets were trading higher.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39778.67, up by 164.60 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 39334.92 and 39880.46. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.63%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 4.28%, Telecom up by 3.55%, Realty up by 3.40%, PSU up by 1.11% and Power was up by 0.93%, while Energy down by 6.07%, Oil & Gas down by 2.33%, Healthcare down by 0.78%, Basic Materials down by 0.51%, Consumer Durables down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 7.39%, ICICI Bank up by 6.76%, Axis Bank up by 5.99%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.30% and HDFC up by 3.50%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 7.04%, HCL Tech down by 2.40%, TCS down by 1.83%, Asian Paints down by 1.82% and Tata Steel down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian manufacturing activity continued to improve in the month of October, amid robust sales growth. As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - jumped to 58.9 in October as against 56.8 in September. Growth was led by the intermediate goods category, but there were also robust expansions in the consumer and investment goods sub-sectors.

The report further said that the ongoing relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, better market conditions and improved demand helped them to secure new work in October. Moreover, the upturn in sales was the strongest since mid-2008. New export orders likewise rose at a quicker pace, one that was the most pronounced in close to six years. Besides, firms saw an increase in outstanding business. However, backlogs rose at the weakest pace in the current six-month period of accumulation.

On the price front, although input costs increased at a quicker pace than in September, the overall rate of inflation was modest by historical standards. There were mentions of higher base oil, metal and plastic prices; parallel to reductions in synthetic rubber and cotton fees. A few firms increased output charges, while the vast majority left their fees unchanged from September. As a result, the overall rate of charge inflation was negligible.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11693.00, up by 50.60 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 11557.40 and 11697.35. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 7.82%, ICICI Bank up by 6.92%, Axis Bank up by 6.46%, Bharti Airtel up by 5.44% and HDFC up by 4.75%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 7.28%, Divis down by 2.83%, Eicher Motors down by 2.44%, HCL Tech down by 2.21% and TCS down by 1.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 352.59 points or 1.46% to 24,460.01, Nikkei 225 surged 318.35 points or 1.39% to 23,295.48, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 44.97 points or 0.36% to 12,591.31, KOSPI rose 33.01 points or 1.46% to 2,300.16, Straits Times advanced 18.14 points or 0.75% to 2,441.98 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.59 points or 0.02% to 3,225.12. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 13.10 points or 0.26% to 5,115.13.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 21.19 points or 0.38% to 5,598.46, France’s CAC increased 17.79 points or 0.39% to 4,612.03 and Germany’s DAX was up by 47.77 points or 0.41% to 11,604.25.