Sensex, Nifty trade flat in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty managing to keep their heads above water. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted sentiments over the street. Traders were seen a taking note of reports that the government has garnered Rs 72,480 crore so far through the direct tax dispute resolution scheme Vivad Se Vishwas. A total of 45,855 declarations have been filed under the scheme, involving disputed tax demand of Rs 31,734 crore till November 17, 2020. Central public sector companies are also settling their disputes totalling Rs 1 lakh crore under the scheme.   

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Hong Kong's jobless rate remained stable during August to October period. The data from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the jobless rate came in at 6.4 percent in the August to October period, the same as seen during July to September period. The underemployment rate also remained unchanged at 3.8 percent in August-October. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 2,000 to 257,800 during August-October from 259,800 in the preceding period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44187.69, up by 7.64 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 43821.39 and 44222.99. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.99%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.54%, Realty up by 2.29%, Utilities up by 1.31%, Auto up by 1.31% and FMCG up by 1.24%, while Bankex down by 0.60%, Telecom down by 0.34% and Energy down by 0.10% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 4.74%, Titan Company up by 4.06%, ITC up by 4.05%, NTPC up by 2.60% and Tata Steel up by 2.28%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.60%, HDFC down by 1.57%, SBI down by 1.25%, ICICI Bank down by 1.22% and Asian Paints down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, flagging skewed nature of health infrastructure, N K Singh, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, has suggested increasing public spending on the health sector to 2.5 per cent of the GDP in four years from 0.95 per cent at present. Singh said it is ‘unfortunate’ that the poorest part of the country has worst infrastructure. He also said that both centre and states need to improve their public outlay on health significantly.

Singh said ‘there is no doubt that public sector spending by both centre and states need to go up very significantly. Our endeavour must be to raise public spending from 0.95 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2024. This would comprise spending by both centre and states’. According to him, regulatory changes such as how to broaden the MBBS course could also be looked at. He said ‘I think that the private sector participation can be at other levels of specialty and at also levels on which they are better placed given their innovative skill’.

He noted that the Finance Commission's recommendations will turn out to be a ‘shiny example’ of PPP (Public Private Partnership). The 15th Finance Commission submitted its report pertaining to the period -- 2021-22 to 2025-26 -- to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 9. The report will be made public after it is tabled in Parliament. Singh said frontline health workers who continue to play a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic deserve much greater recognition.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12949.10, up by 10.85 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 12835.60 and 12959.90. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 4.60%, ITC up by 4.07%, Titan Company up by 4.05%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.42% and NTPC up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.94%, HDFC Bank down by 1.61%, HDFC down by 1.57%, UPL down by 1.42% and ICICI Bank down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 229.23 points or 0.89% to 25,498.91, Hang Seng decreased 150.03 points or 0.57% to 26,394.26, Taiwan Weighted dropped 48.13 points or 0.35% to 13,725.16, KOSPI fell 11.66 points or 0.46% to 2,533.98 and Straits Times trembled 6.55 points or 0.23% to 2,782.04. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 3.79 points or 0.11% to 3,351.09 and Jakarta Composite soared 28.74 points or 0.52% to 5,586.26.