Benchmarks trim losses to trade above water

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed their losses in afternoon session to trade tad above its neutral lines as traders took some relief with report the Centre government has released Rs 6,195 crore as the eight equated monthly installment of post-devolution revenue deficit grants to 14 states. However, traders continue to remain cautious with Rating agency ICRA’s report that states are likely to cut capital outlay on infrastructure by up to 40 percent, with coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic severely impacting revenues of state governments, and additional expenditure towards healthcare and public welfare. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as the successful covid vaccine hopes kindled expectations of a swift reopening of the global economy.

Back home, government has made it mandatory for companies with annual turnover of at least Rs 100 crore to go for e-invoicing for business to companies (B2C) transactions from January 2021. Stocks related to agrochemical sector remained in focus on report that the sector is likely to grow 12-14 per cent in the ongoing financial year (FY21) on the back of sharp recovery in offtake from domestic agriculture sector and continuing healthy exports. In scrip specific developments, VST Tillers Tractors jumped on reporting over 4-fold jump in Q2 net profit and KPIT Technologies edged up on signing large scale order with BMW Group.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43306.39, up by 28.74 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 43028.53 and 43708.47. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.35%, while Small cap index was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.21%, Metal up by 1.42%, Auto up by 1.34%, Power up by 1.06% and IT was up by 0.85%, while Energy down by 2.55%, Consumer Durables down by 1.53%, Realty down by 0.21% and FMCG was down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.25%, Axis Bank up by 2.72%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.20%, Sun Pharma up by 2.06% and Infosys was up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.91%, Reliance Industries down by 3.32%, Titan Company down by 2.35%, Asian Paints down by 1.37% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in its latest data has indicated that the telecom industry has added 37.4 lakh mobile users in August 2020. The overall telecom subscriber base for wireless connections stood at 114.7 crore in August 2020, compared to 114.4 crore in July 2020, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.33 percent.

According to the data, the overall telecom subscriber base (wireless and wireline) increased marginally to 116.7 crore in August from 116.4 crore in July. Wireless subscription in urban areas rose to 62.4 crore at the end of August, while the same in rural areas decreased to 52.2 crore. Out of the total wireless subscribers (1,147.92 million), 957.43 million were active on the date of peak VLR (visitor location register) in August 2020. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was about 83.41 per cent of the total wireless subscriber base. Active subscribers are calculated based on reported VLR, a key metric reflecting the number of active users on a mobile network.

Data further stated that the number of broadband subscribers increased to 71.61 crore in August, from 70.54 crore in the preceding month. The top-five service providers constituted 98.89 percent market share of the total broadband subscriber base. These include Reliance Jio Infocomm (40.39 crore), Bharti Airtel (15.89 crore), Vodafone Idea (11.99 crore), BSNL (2.37 crore) and Atria Convergence (about 17 lakh).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12658.70, up by 27.60 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 12581.00 and 12769.75. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.90%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.49%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.10%, Tata Steel up by 2.99% and Cipla was up by 2.60%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.11%, Reliance Industries down by 3.26%, Titan Company down by 2.42%, Asian Paints down by 1.35% and Britannia Industries was down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 444.01 points or 1.78% to 25,349.60, KOSPI rose 33.04 points or 1.35% to 2,485.87, Hang Seng increased 82.06 points or 0.31% to 26,383.54, Jakarta Composite soared 52.40 points or 0.96% to 5,515.14 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 180.47 points or 1.38% to 13,262.19.

On the other side, Straits Times trembled 9.38 points or 0.35% to 2,695.62 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.65 points or 0.32% to 3,349.50.