Sensex, Nifty continue to hold gains in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green during late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding their strong gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to maintain their gaining rally. Traders remained positive, as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the momentum of reforms will continue in the future as well to make India an attractive investment destination. According to a press statement from the Ministry of Finance, several measures are being taken up to keep the reforms impetus intact such as professionalisation of the financial sector and thrust on disinvestments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Singapore's consumer prices declined in October. The data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed that the consumer price index fell 0.2 percent year-on-year in October, after remaining unchanged in September. This latest consumer prices outcome was largely due to a sharper decline in private transport costs. MAS core CPI, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, fell 0.2 percent annually in October, following a 0.1 percent decrease in the preceding month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44367.55, up by 290.40 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 44247.12 and 44499.62. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.79%, Auto up by 1.63%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.08%, FMCG up by 0.82% and Industrials up by 0.71%, while Energy down by 0.49%, Oil & Gas down by 0.16% and Telecom down by 0.02% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.70%, HDFC Bank up by 2.60%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.50%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.47% and ITC up by 2.02%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.01%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.99%, ONGC down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.77% and Sun Pharma down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Care rating in its latest report has said that the Indian economy is expected to throw up better numbers in the September quarter (Q2) with GDP contraction of 9.9 per cent, as against 24 per cent in Q1 at the onset of the pandemic. In the first contraction since 1980, the economy shrank a full 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal after the whole nation was put under a strict lockdown. The agency said ‘We expect GDP to contract 9.9 per cent in the second quarter, and for the full year to March by 8.2 per cent’.

It added that from a gross value added point of view, de-growth will be 9.4 per cent in the September quarter. It based its optimism on growth in agriculture, forestry, financial services, real estate and professional services. In case of agriculture, the report said the main kharif harvest started late September and will carry on till December. Therefore, the good kharif crop expectation will show in the Q3 numbers only. The likely positive impetus in Q2 is based on two factors -- anticipation of a pick-up in demand during the festivals and uptick in corporate profit, which though has been more due to the cost-savings rather than top line growth.

In fact, it said sales growth continued to be negative in Q2 but overall numbers are positive as cost economies have been more on salary bills, power and fuel and selling expenses, combined with a drop in growth in raw material costs due to fall in sales. It noted that the marginal 1 per cent positive growth rate in the financial and other services is driven mainly by banking where growth in deposits has been strong even through credit growth was negative. It expects manufacturing de-growth to improve to (-) 10 per cent from (-) 39.3 per cent in Q1, and mining and construction at (-) 12 per cent from (-) 30 per cent in Q1. It said electricity, gas and water will also recover to (-) 1.5 per cent from (-) 7 per cent in Q1, and added that while trade and other services will improve to (-) 27 per cent from (-) 47 per cent in Q1.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13013.45, up by 87.00 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 12978.00 and 13048.75. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 6.37%, Eicher Motors up by 3.80%, Axis Bank up by 3.07%, HDFC Bank up by 2.63% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.55%. On the flip side, Divis Lab down by 1.26%, Shree Cement down by 1.13%, HDFC down by 1.03%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.01% and BPCL down by 0.85% were the top losers.
 
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 675.42 points or 2.65% to 26,202.79, Hang Seng increased 43.63 points or 0.16% to 26,529.83, Jakarta Composite soared 36.00 points or 0.64% to 5,688.76, Straits Times advanced 24.53 points or 0.86% to 2,873.31 and KOSPI rose 10.72 points or 0.41% to 2,613.31. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 2.41 points or 0.07% to 3,412.08 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 69.09 points or 0.5% to 13,808.92.