Sensex, Nifty remain under grip of bulls

Indian equity benchmarks remained under a grip of bulls in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding their strong gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets were helping key indices to maintain their gaining rally in late morning deals. Domestic sentiments were positive, as banks have started refunding borrowers the compound interest charged on specified loan accounts during the moratorium period. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked all lending institutions, including non-banking financial companies, to ensure that the scheme of waiver of interest on interest for loans up to Rs 2 crore for the six-month moratorium period is implemented by November 5.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, even after the coronavirus pandemic, Indonesia's economy slipped into a recession for the first time since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The data released by the statistics bureau revealed that gross domestic product fell 3.49 percent on a yearly basis in the third quarter after shrinking 5.32 percent in the second quarter. Technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth in real GDP.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41171.31, up by 555.17 points or 1.37% after trading in a range of 41030.17 and 41282.60. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.37%, while Small cap index was up by 1.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.66%, Oil & Gas up by 2.23%, Energy up by 2.17%, Metal up by 2.00% and IT up by 1.68%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 5.48%, Tata Steel up by 3.55%, HCL Tech up by 3.05%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.97% and Asian Paints up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 0.01% was the only loser.

Meanwhile, ratings agency Icra has said Commercial vehicles (CV) volumes are expected to shrink 25-28 per cent this fiscal (FY21) amid multiple headwinds along with the pandemic impact, and the outlook for the sector remains negative on the back of continuing challenge. In the previous fiscal, CV domestic volumes stood at 7,17,688 units as against an all-time high of 10,07,311 vehicles in 2018-19.

The ratings agency said it expects the volumes in FY21 to contract by 25-28 per cent, which would bring industry volumes down to the lowest levels in more than a decade. It conducted an extensive survey, covering 26 CV dealers from 11 states in October to gauge the trends at the ground level and to understand the current challenges of the sector.

Icra Vice President Shamsher Dewan said the domestic CV segment was already in the midst of several headwinds in FY20 and witnessed a steep volume contraction of 29 per cent. Dewan added the industry had been expecting the down-cycle to extend into the current fiscal as well, as increased vehicle prices post transition to new emission norms (BS-VI) would have added to the existing plethora of challenges. However, the extent of the contraction has been worse than expected, on account of the challenges brought about by the pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12073.10, up by 164.60 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 12027.60 and 12100.85. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 5.34%, BPCL up by 4.63%, Tata Steel up by 4.01%, UPL up by 3.74% and Bajaj Finance up by 3.35%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.65% and Divis Lab down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng increased 675.10 points or 2.71% to 25,561.24, Nikkei 225 surged 306.54 points or 1.29% to 24,001.77, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 21.47 points or 0.17% to 12,889.37, KOSPI rose 45.45 points or 1.93% to 2,402.77, Straits Times advanced 54.88 points or 2.18% to 2,570.86, Shanghai Composite gained 28.75 points or 0.88% to 3,306.19 and Jakarta Composite soared 94.49 points or 1.85% to 5,199.69.