Key gauges remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green terrain in morning deals, mainly led by gains in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Capital Goods stocks amid largely positive cues from global markets. Sentiments remained positive as Rating agency ICRA’s report stated that the Year-on-Year (YoY) contraction in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (at constant 2011-12 prices) is expected to narrow appreciably to 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal (Q2FY21) from 23.9 percent in Q1FY21, as the economy recovered from the lows of the pandemic-induced lockdown. Some support also came with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the belief in democracy, rule of law and freedom is the strength of the partnership between India and Luxembourg. He also said India-Luxembourg's partnership amid the COVID-19 pandemic can be beneficial for the recovery of both the countries. Besides, Union IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government was very keen to promote India as a very big centre of the data economy and would finalise a data protection law very soon.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green amid optimism about potential resumption of negotiations over a new U.S. fiscal stimulus bill.  However, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed that the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in November, and at a faster pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.3. That's down from 48.7 in October and was shy of expectations for 49.4. It also moved further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction; the index has been in contraction for 19 straight months. Back home, on the sectoral front, Realty sector stocks were in watch with Crisil’s report that the financial capital has seen a 1.3 times increase in property registrations on lower duties, but FY21 is going to be a difficult year for the realty sector with primary sales likely to decline by 50 percent in top 10 cities.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43791.08, up by 191.12 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 43648.75 and 43889.40. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.68%, Telecom up by 1.53%, Capital Goods up by 1.30%, FMCG up by 1.17% and Power up by 1.16%, while Energy down by 1.42% and Bankex down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.95%, Titan Co up by 2.98%, Nestle up by 2.86%, NTPC up by 2.34% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.23%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.97%, Indusind Bank down by 1.92%, Axis Bank down by 1.12%, ICICI Bank down by 0.97% and ONGC down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it will conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under open market operations (OMOs) for Rs 10,000 crore each on November 26. The RBI said the decision was taken after a review of the current liquidity and financial conditions.

On November 26, the RBI will purchase three government securities of different maturity dates aggregating to Rs 10,000 crore and sell two securities aggregating to the same amount using the multiple price auction method. The RBI further said it reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase/sale of individual securities. The result of the auctions will be announced on the same day.

Simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under OMOs, popularly known as Operation Twist, involves purchasing G-Sec of longer maturities and selling equal amount of G-Sec of shorter maturities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12827.95, up by 56.25 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 12784.40 and 12855.20. There were 36 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.92%, Titan Co up by 2.88%, Nestle up by 2.87%, NTPC up by 2.23% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.10%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.01%, Indusind Bank down by 1.97%, UPL down by 1.67%, Axis Bank down by 1.23% and ICICI Bank down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 121.24 points or 0.46% to 26,478.21, Straits Times advanced 22.17 points or 0.8% to 2,799.17, Shanghai Composite gained 3.44 points or 0.1% to 3,366.53 and KOSPI rose 3.06 points or 0.12% to 2,550.48.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 6.72 points or 0.05% to 13,715.71, Jakarta Composite lost 13.18 points or 0.24% to 5,580.88 and Nikkei 225 slipped 102.27 points or 0.4% to 25,532.07.