Markets add gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks added some gains and traded over half a percent higher in morning deals, tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and NTPC. Sentiments remained up-beat as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wooed global investors by showcasing the recent agriculture and labour reforms and faster-than-anticipated reflation of the economy and asserted that the government will do whatever it takes to make India the engine of global growth resurgence. Some support also came as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 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. Meanwhile, the government has announced simplified guidelines for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) players to reduce the compliance burden for the industry and facilitate Work from Home and Work from Anywhere. On the sectoral front, real estate industry stocks remained in focus with ICRA’s report that housing sales may fall by 35-40 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year even as demand improved during the September quarter.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors kept an eye on the latest news regarding the U.S. presidential election. While Democratic nominee Joe Biden currently seems poised to unseat President Donald Trump, Democrats are not expected to take control of the Senate. Meanwhile, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group showed that the services sector in Australia swung to expansion in October, with a seasonally adjusted Performance of Service Index score of 51.4. That's up sharply from 36.2 in September and it moves above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41592.85, up by 252.69 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 41383.29 and 41666.92. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.58%, while Small cap index was up by 1.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.14%, Realty up by 1.24%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, Basic Materials up by 0.67% and Consumer Durables up by 0.65%, while Telecom down by 0.24% were the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.12%, NTPC up by 1.44%, HDFC Bank up by 1.22% and HDFC up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.36%, Nestle down by 1.16%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.66%, Axis Bank down by 0.61% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.58% 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 12185.15, up by 64.85 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 12131.85 and 12208.95. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.15%, Tata Motors up by 1.60%, UPL up by 1.58% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.31%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.31%, JSW Steel down by 1.05%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.76% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 7.45 points or 0.31% to 2,406.34, Straits Times trembled 15.53 points or 0.6% to 2,573.09, Shanghai Composite declined 23.68 points or 0.71% to 3,296.45 and Hang Seng decreased 46.41 points or 0.18% to 25,649.51.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 226.43 points or 0.94% to 24,331.71, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 31.55 points or 0.24% to 12,950.35 and Jakarta Composite soared 28.47 points or 0.54% to 5,288.80.