Benchmarks likely to make gap-up opening on Monday

Indian markets ended with robust gains on Friday led by heavy buying in banking and financial stocks amid positive global cues. Today, the start of session is likely to be gap-up following firm cues from Asian peers. Market participants will be taking some encouragement with the RBI’s data showing that bank credit grew by 5.06 per cent to Rs 103.39 lakh crore, while deposits rose by 10.12 per cent to Rs 142.92 lakh crore in the fortnight ended October 23. Some support will come with Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India’s statement that the Indian economy is expected to be on normal course by early next fiscal even while the investment demand from corporate might take some time to pick up. Traders may take note of 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. Besides, the country's foreign exchange reserves rose $183 million to touch a record high of $560.715 billion in the week ended October 30. However, there may be some cautiousness with report that India has reported 46,661 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The total caseload now stands at 8,553,864. The country's death toll has mounted to 126,653. There will be some buzz in aviation stocks with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation’s (MOCA) statement that 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. Power stocks will be 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. There will be some reaction in auto stocks with rating agency Crisil’s note that vehicles sales' rural market share has declined even as fresh Covid-19 cases have begun to show up more outside city areas than before. There will be lots of earnings announcements too, to keep the markets in action.

The US markets closed mostly in red on Friday as investors digested Joe Biden's election victory, the market's weakening upward momentum, and a better-than-expected jobs report. Asian markets are trading higher on Monday amid optimism about the outlook under a Joe Biden presidency.

Back home, extending their gaining streak into the fifth straight session, Indian equity markets ended over one percent higher on Friday, led by strong gains in Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Indusind Bank, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Further, firm global cues too boosted investor sentiment. The benchmarks made slightly positive start and stayed in green for whole day, as traders got some support with 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. Key gauges extended gains in second half of the session, taking support from External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement 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. 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. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 552.90 points or 1.34% to 41,893.06, while the CNX Nifty was up by 143.25 points or 1.18% to 12,263.55.