Firm trade persists on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued their firm trade in morning session, on the back of mostly positive trade in Asian equities coupled with sustained buying by domestic institutional investors. Domestic sentiments remained firm with report that NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand has hailed the three recently enacted agriculture-related legislations by the Centre saying if implemented in the right spirit, they will take Indian agriculture to new heights and usher in the transformation of the rural economy. Some support also came with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that increased digitisation will help in making better assessment of the country's economic growth and nudged tax practitioners to suggest their clients to shift towards digital modes of payments. Market participants also took a note of report that Former Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan has opined against a fresh fiscal stimulus to boost pandemic-hit economy saying it is more important to spend the amount already committed by the government than to increase the fiscal deficit target again. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden took the first steps towards taking over the White House. A stimulus package is still in the making in the United States though there is uncertainty about when it could be announced. Back home, on the sectoral front, Power stocks were in focus as power producers' total dues owed by distribution firms rose over 28 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,38,479 crore in September 2020, reflecting stress in the sector. Banking stocks also were in watch with the RBI data showing that bank credit grew by 5.06 percent to Rs 103.39 lakh crore, while deposits rose by 10.12 percent to Rs 142.92 lakh crore in the fortnight ended October 23. In the fortnight ended October 25, 2019, bank credit had stood at Rs 98.40 lakh crore, and the deposit was Rs 129.78 lakh crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 42449.64, up by 556.58 points or 1.33% after trading in a range of 42273.97 and 42566.34. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.74%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.65%, Bankex up by 2.07%, TECK up by 1.16%, Realty up by 1.14% and IT up by 0.97%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.48%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.34%, Axis Bank up by 3.09%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.10% and Indusind Bank up by 1.96%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.37%, TCS down by 0.25%, ONGC down by 0.07% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) has said India's domestic passenger traffic has reached more than half of pre-coronavirus pandemic level operations with the number of daily air travellers crossing over two lakh in November.

MOCA Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said when flights resumed after a hiatus of two months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there were only 30,000 air passengers on the first day but the number reached over two lakh on November 2.

He also said almost 100 per cent of bookings and check-ins are now happening through the web and hailed the country's aviation fraternity for adapting very well to the new normal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12422.70, up by 159.15 points or 1.30% after trading in a range of 12383.90 and 12451.80. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divis Lab up by 6.11%, ICICI Bank up by 3.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.40%, Axis Bank up by 2.98% and BPCL up by 2.73%. On the flip side, ITC down by 0.57%, Coal India down by 0.57%, Cipla down by 0.55%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.21% and TCS down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 580.72 points or 2.39% to 24,905.95, Hang Seng increased 416.81 points or 1.62% to 26,129.78, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 112.63 points or 0.87% to 13,086.16, Shanghai Composite gained 62.89 points or 1.9% to 3,375.05, KOSPI rose 38.03 points or 1.57% to 2,454.53 and Straits Times advanced 29.44 points or 1.14% to 2,608.12.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 5.55 points or 0.1% to 5,329.98.