Benchmarks trade higher in early deals; Nifty surpasses 12,150 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Friday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets are trading higher with notable gains in early deals on the back of buying in Energy, Realty and Metal stocks. Sentiments got a boost as the RBI said it will continue to conduct open market operation (OMO) purchase auctions of Rs 20,000 crore, as well as OMOs in State Development Loans (SDLs) to support market sentiment and assure adequate liquidity. Some support also came in as calling global investors to invest in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government has an ambitious plan to invest $1.5 trillion under the National Infrastructure Pipeline. Though, upside remained limited as some cautiousness prevailed in the markets with report that India has reported nearly 50,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The total caseload now stands at 8,411,034. The country's death toll has mounted to 124,354. Meanwhile, markets regulator SEBI has enhanced the foreign investment limit for individual fund houses to $600 million from $300 million at present.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors kept an eye on the latest news regarding the US presidential election and the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels. A divided government with Democratic nominee Joe Biden as President and Republicans controlling the Senate is seen as likely to dim chances of tough financial regulations and higher taxes. Back home, aviation stocks were in focus with the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s (MOCA) statement that the cap on the number of domestic flights Indian airlines are permitted to operate would be increased to 70-75 per cent of their pre-Covid levels as the passenger traffic surges. In scrip specific development, Reliance Industries gained after Saudi PIF has invested Rs 9,555 crore (2.04% equity stake) in Reliance Retail Ventures.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41445.12, up by 104.96 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 41383.29 and 41539.38. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.16%, Realty up by 1.28%, Metal up by 0.89%, Oil & Gas up by 0.89%, Auto up by 0.84%, while IT down by 0.44%, TECK down by 0.42%, Bankex down by 0.32%, Telecom down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.65%, NTPC up by 1.79%, Tata Steel up by 1.59%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.54% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.34%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.02%, Nestle down by 1.02%, Axis Bank down by 0.86% and Infosys down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it would continue to conduct open market operation (OMO) purchase auctions of Rs 20,000 crore, as well as OMOs in State Development Loans (SDLs) to support market sentiment and assure adequate liquidity.

Since the announcements made after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on October 9, the RBI has expanded the scale of outright open market operation purchases of Government of India securities from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore per auction. It is also conducting OMO purchase auctions in SDLs. The total amount of OMOs conducted in the second half of 2020-21 has been of the order of Rs 66,305 crore so far. The RBI said the response has been positive in both primary and secondary market auctions.

The Reserve Bank has decided to conduct OMOs involving a simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on November 12, 2020. Simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under OMOs, popularly known as Operation Twist, involves purchasing G-Sec of longer maturities and selling equal amount of G-Sec of shorter maturities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12173.70, up by 53.40 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 12131.85 and 12175.55. There were 29 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while 1 stock  remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.90%, Tata Motors up by 2.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.99%, UPL up by 1.64% and Tata Steel up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.98%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.78%, Nestle down by 0.72%, Axis Bank down by 0.70% and Power Grid down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 213.24 points or 0.88% to 24,318.52, Taiwan Weighted rose 43.41 points or 0.34% to 12,962.21, KOSPI advanced 3.18 points or 0.13% to 2,416.97 and Jakarta Composite gained 24.09 points or 0.46% to 5,284.42. On the other hand, Straits Times lost 15.85 points or 0.61% to 2,572.77, Hang Seng slipped 45.75 points or 0.18% to 25,650.17 and Shanghai Composite was down by 23.68 points or 0.71% to 3,296.45.