Sensex, Nifty hold strong gains in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding their strong gains. Gaining rally continued over the Dalal Street despite negative cue from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were positive, after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India's expectation is that the reforms undertaken by it in domains like labour, agriculture and education, when combined with making it easier to do business, create start-ups and promote skilling, will lead to much broader pathways for global collaboration. Jaishankar said given the hit taken by virtually every economy in the world in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apparent that recovery is the primary focus.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after the average of household spending in Japan was down 10.2 percent on year in September, coming in at 269,863 yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 10.7 percent following the 6.9 percent drop in August. The average of monthly income per household stood at 469,235 yen, up 2.6 percent on year. Individually, spending on furniture, clothing, medical care and recreation all were down sharply.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41642.86, up by 302.70 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 41383.29 and 41666.92. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.78%, Realty up by 1.05%, Oil & Gas up by 0.95%, Consumer Durables up by 0.75% and Capital Goods up by 0.58%, while Healthcare down by 0.34%, Telecom down by 0.21%, TECK down by 0.18%, IT down by 0.17% and PSU down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.42%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.11%, HDFC Bank up by 1.57% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.81%, Nestle down by 1.62%, Asian Paints down by 1.21%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.70% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) has said the cap on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines are permitted to operate would be increased to 70-75 per cent of their pre-COVID levels as the passenger traffic surges. The ministry had said last week that the Indian airlines can operate maximum 60 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation.

The ministry said ‘MOCA is monitoring traffic everyday, and it is expected that the traffic would further pickup because of the festival season and as passenger traffic increases, the upper cap would be revised to 70-75 per cent of normal capacity in the coming days.’ The MOCA said 2.05 lakh passengers travelled in domestic flights on November 1. The ministry had informed the airlines about the aforementioned 60 per cent limit through an official order on September 2 but it had not told them the period for which the cap would remain in place.

Airlines are expecting that the government would further increase the cap on domestic flights so that they can soon reach their pre-COVID levels. Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in the country since March 23 due to the pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble pacts signed with various countries since July.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12191.55, up by 71.25 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 12131.85 and 12208.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.43%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.36%, HDFC Bank up by 1.59% and Tata Motors up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.66%, GAIL India down by 1.60%, Nestle down by 1.55%, Asian Paints down by 1.22% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.98% 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.