Sensex, Nifty maintain firm trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks were maintaining their firm trade in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading above their neutral lines. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain in green terrain. Domestic sentiments remained positive, as Chairman Supratim Bandyopadhyay said pension fund regulator PFRDA will propose to the government to make employers' contribution of 14 per cent under NPS tax free for all categories of subscribers in the next Budget. Employers' contribution of 14 per cent in pension under the National Pension System (NPS) scheme for the central government employees was made tax free from April 1, 2019.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Indonesia's trade surplus increased in October, amid fall in exports and imports. The figures from Statistics Indonesia showed that the trade surplus rose to $3.61 billion in October from $0.12 billion in the last year. In August, the trade surplus was $2.35 billion. Exports declined 3.29 percent year-on-year in October. Imports fell 26.93 percent annually in October. On a monthly basis, exports rose 3.09 percent, while imports decreased 6.79 percent in October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43760.80, up by 122.82 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 43699.22 and 44161.16. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.39%, Capital Goods up by 1.98%, Industrials up by 1.47%, Basic Materials up by 1.42% and Bankex up by 0.87%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.88%, Healthcare down by 0.72%, IT down by 0.69%, TECK down by 0.59% and FMCG down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 7.03%, SBI up by 3.00%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.76%, Indusind Bank up by 1.95% and HDFC Bank up by 1.77%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.03%, HCL Tech down by 1.57%, Infosys down by 1.21%, ONGC down by 1.10% and ICICI Bank down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a sign of increased economic activity, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest credit digest on country's oil and gas sector has shown a recovery in refinery throughput during September. The ratings agency's October 2020 credit digest edition highlighted an increase in LNG imports.

As per the report, India's refining throughput increased 13.3 per cent month on month to 4.33 million barrels per day (mbd) in September 2020, while it declined 8.8 per cent year on year. India's petroleum product output, domestic consumption and exports declined 9.5 per cent Y-o-Y to 18 mmt, 4.1 Y-o-Y to 15.5mmt and 27.1 per cent Y-o-Y to 4.8mmt, respectively.

Besides, the production volumes of the ONGC, the OIL and fields under production-sharing contracts decreased 1.7 per cent Y-o-Y, 5.4 per cent Y-o-Y and 16.3 per cent Y-o-Y, respectively, during September 2020. In September 2020, India's crude import dependency almost remained stable on a Y-o-Y basis at 83.4 per cent. In addition, LNG import volumes increased 8.9 per cent Y-o-Y to 2,972 mmscm in September 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12816.75, up by 36.50 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 12797.10 and 12934.05. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 6.95%, Tata Motors up by 3.86%, SBI up by 3.03%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.81% and Shree Cement up by 2.06%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.65%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.88%, NTPC down by 1.87%, HCL Tech down by 1.66% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 115.37 points or 0.45% to 26,022.30, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 72.92 points or 0.54% to 13,624.75, Jakarta Composite soared 54.31 points or 0.99% to 5,549.18, Hang Seng increased 28.72 points or 0.11% to 26,410.39, Straits Times advanced 28.57 points or 1.04% to 2,776.57 and KOSPI rose 7.64 points or 0.3% to 2,550.67. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 6.65 points or 0.2% to 3,340.32.