Benchmarks trade firm in early deals on hopes of COVID-19 vaccine

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Tuesday following positive cues from global peers and on hopes of COVID-19 vaccine. Markets are trading firm in early deals with gains of around 0.80% each in early deals, on the back of buying in all the sector indices except Energy. Sentiments got a boost as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the industry that momentum of economic reforms will continue to make India a hotspot of global investment. Adding optimism, Care Ratings said the economy is expected to throw up better numbers in the September quarter with GDP contraction of 9.9 per cent, as against 24 per cent in Q1 at the onset of the pandemic. Meanwhile, India reported 37,329 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 9,177,641. The country's death toll has mounted to 134,251.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading higher following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street after British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said its coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent. Investors' sentiment also received a boost following news that the Trump administration has officially commenced the transition process to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, and Biden has chosen former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to be Treasury Secretary.

Back home, stocks of diagnostic and healthcare tests firms were in focus after the Maharashtra government said all air and rail passengers arriving from Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Goa need to carry Covid-19 test report before entering the state. In scrip specific development, MindTree rallied after it announced a five-year deal with a leading wind the Nordex Group. IRCON International gained on winning a work order worth Rs 723 crore from National Capital Region Transport Corporation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44430.81, up by 353.66 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 44247.12 and 44440.06. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.81%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.49%, Auto up by 1.27%, Telecom up by 1.14%, Realty up by 1.07%, Capital Goods up by 1.05%, while Energy down by 0.20% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.41%, HDFC Bank up by 1.83%, Axis Bank up by 1.81%, ICICI Bank up by 1.75% and HCL Technologies up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 0.46%, Reliance Industries down by 0.43%, Sun Pharma down by 0.14% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that unprecedented reforms undertaken on both governance and economic fronts by the government will usher in a new era of growth and prosperity. He also stressed the need to increase expenditure on research and development and strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) laws.

Referring to the reforms undertaken by the government in recent times, Kant said as the world battles contraction in economic growth, India has initiated reforms in key sectors including agriculture, labour and mining. He noted that labour reforms will help in making India a manufacturing hub and the country has also successfully improved its ranking in Global Innovation Index. He also pointed out that despite challenges at the global level, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased from $36 billion in 2013-14 to $74 billion in 2019-20.

Noting that infrastructure will be a key driver of growth, Niti Aayog CEO said through the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which envisages $1.5 lakh crore of investments, 21 percent of those will come from the private sector. He stated that the project pipeline also has a high degree of readiness and 40 percent projects are already under implementation. He also said that asset monetisation will give robust long-term investment opportunities. Noting that European and American companies will look for alternatives owing to the US-China trade war, he said India can and must turn this crisis into an opportunity.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13031.05, up by 104.60 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 12978.00 and 13033.70. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.47%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.60%, Eicher Motors up by 2.57%, HCL Technologies up by 2.12% and HDFC Bank up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 0.51%, Reliance Industries down by 0.45%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.35%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.33% and JSW Steel down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 jumped 709.80 points or 2.78% to 26,237.17, Straits Times rose 23.83 points or 0.84% to 2,872.61, Hang Seng gained 12.47 points or 0.05% to 26,498.67, KOSPI surged 18.36 points or 0.71% to 2,620.95 and Jakarta Composite added 35.97 points or 0.64% to 5,688.73. On other hand, Taiwan Weighted slipped 19.28 points or 0.14% to 13,858.73 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2.41 points or 0.07% to 3,412.08.