Indian equities add more points in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks added some more points in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and the Nifty gaining above 150 and 90 points, respectively. The broader indices, mid cap index and small cap index were also trading in green. Sentiments on the street improved, as the health ministry said the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 is in conversation with all vaccine manufacturers, including domestic and foreign ones, a day after Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced more than 90 per cent efficacy of their potential vaccine for the coronavirus. Sector wise, telecom sector remained in limelight after 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. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors continued to ride the positive sentiment from news of a highly successful vaccine trial and Joe Biden's US election victory. European markets were trading higher.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43470.83, up by 193.18 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 42970.21 and 43708.47. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 2.63%, Metal up by 2.35%, Power up by 1.67%, Utilities up by 1.67% and IT was up by 1.65%, while Energy down by 2.83% and Consumer Durables was down by 1.68% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.88%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.69%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.12%, ITC up by 3.11% and Axis Bank up by 3.02%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 6.30%, Reliance Industries down by 3.67%, Titan Company down by 2.76%, Asian Paints down by 1.36% and ICICI Bank down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid festive season, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report has showed that passenger vehicle wholesale in India increased by 14.19 per cent to 3,10,294 units in October 2020 against 2,71,737 units in the same month last year.

As per the report, motorcycle sales were at 13,82,749 units as against 11,16,886 units in October 2019, up 23.8 per cent. Scooter sales were also up 1.79 per cent at 5,90,507 units from 5,80,120 units in the same month last year.

But, three-wheeler sales, declined by 60.91 per cent to 26,187 units last month as against 66,985 units in the same month last year. Three-wheelers saw a slight improvement in sales, compared to the last month, however, it has still registered a de-growth of 60.91 per cent, over the corresponding month of last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12731.55, up by 100.45 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 12571.10 and 12769.75. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 5.27%, Hindalco up by 4.37%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.71%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.51% and BPCL up by 3.41%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 5.71%, Reliance Industries down by 3.70%, Titan Company down by 2.72%, Asian Paints down by 1.35% and Britannia down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 444.01 points or 1.78% to 25,349.60, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 180.47 points or 1.38% to 13,262.19, Jakarta Composite soared 46.77 points or 0.86% to 5,509.51, KOSPI rose 33.04 points or 1.35% to 2,485.87. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 3.19 points or 0.12% to 2,701.81, Shanghai Composite declined 17.95 points or 0.53% to 3,342.20 and Hang Seng was up by 74.50 points or 0.28% to 26,226.98.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.70 points or 0.42% to 6,323.55, France’s CAC increased 14.84 points or 0.27% to 5,433.81 and Germany’s DAX was up by 32.35 points or 0.25% to 13,195.46.