Benchmarks extend gains in late afternoon session

Key benchmark indices extended their gains in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and the Nifty gaining over 550 and 100 points, respectively. Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank Associates were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Sentiments remained upbeat as private report stated that eleven manufacturing value chains in India have strong potential to operate in international markets, boosting India’s power and providing long-term employment and skill pathways to several Indians. With relevant reforms and complementary actions by manufacturing companies, it is estimated that these 11 manufacturing value chains can generate about $320 billion more in gross value added within the next seven years. Meanwhile, GST Network’s infrastructure has been upgraded to handle up to 3 lakh logged-in users at a time. Sector wise, automobile sector remained in focus, as automobile dealers' body, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) in its latest report has showed that passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales witnessed a year-on-year decline of 8.8 per cent to 2,49,860 units in October 2020 as compared to 2,73,980 units in October 2019, as registrations slowed down owing to supply issues.

On the global front, all Asian markets are trading higher, as US elections being called for Joe Biden. Mr Biden is perceived as being more friendly for trade, and with the Republican’s indicting an unwillingness to back large-scale fiscal stimulus, more monetary easing is on the way. European markets were trading higher.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 42502.95, up by 609.89 points or 1.46% after trading in a range of 42263.64 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 gained 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.94%, Bankex up by 2.15%, Realty up by 1.84%, Oil & Gas up by 1.69% and Metal was up by 1.64%, while Healthcare down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.89%, ICICI Bank up by 3.39%, Axis Bank up by 3.17%, Indusind Bank up by 3.04% and HDFC Bank up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.24%, ITC down by 0.23% and SBI down by 0.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, automobile dealers' body, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) in its latest report has showed that passenger vehicle (PV) retail sales witnessed a year-on-year decline of 8.8 per cent to 2,49,860 units in October 2020 as compared to 2,73,980 units in October 2019, as registrations slowed down owing to supply issues.

As per the report, two-wheeler sales also fell 26.82 per cent to 10,41,682 units last month as compared to 14,23,394 units in October 2019, while commercial vehicle sales slipped 30.32 per cent to 44,480 units as against 63,837 units a year ago.

Further, three-wheeler sales fell 64.5 per cent to 22,381 units last month from 63,042 units in the year-ago period. However, tractor sales grew by 55 per cent to 55,146 units last month as against 35,456 units in the same month last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12436.40, up by 172.85 points or 1.41% after trading in a range of 12367.35 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 4.22%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.93%, BPCL up by 3.71%, ICICI Bank up by 3.53% and Axis Bank up by 3.29%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.51%, Adani Ports down by 1.15%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.76%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.45% and Grasim Industries down by 0.33% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher, Nikkei 225 surged 514.61 points or 2.12% to 24,839.84, Hang Seng increased 303.20 points or 1.18% to 26,016.17, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 153.94 points or 1.19% to 13,127.47, Shanghai Composite gained 61.57 points or 1.86% to 3,373.73, KOSPI rose 30.70 points or 1.27% to 2,447.20, Straits Times advanced 30.31 points or 1.18% to 2,608.99 and Jakarta Composite was down by 20.47 points or 0.38% to 5,356.00.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 92.49 points or 1.56% to 6,002.51, France’s CAC increased 80.34 points or 1.62% to 5,041.22 and Germany’s DAX was up by 241.32 points or 1.93% to 12,721.34.