Markets trade tad lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Thursday but soon turned volatile ahead of F&O series expiry later in the day amid mixed global cues. Markets are trading below neutral lines with minor cut in early deals on account of selling in Oil & Gas, IT and Energy stocks. Rising coronavirus cases in the country dampened the sentiments in the domestic markets. India reported 44,699 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 9,266,697. The country's death toll mounted to 135,261. however, downside remained capped with a private report stating that the Indian economy is likely to have improved in the second quarter with GDP printing in at -7.8 percent as against 24 percent contraction in the June quarter. Traders took note of report that in a bid to push infrastructure creation in the country, the Union Cabinet has approved Rs.6000 crore capital infusion in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund's (NIIF) debt platform over the next two years.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with muted gains as optimism about the recent positive news regarding coronavirus vaccines was offset by data that showed US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increased amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the US. Back home, Oil marketing companies (OMCs), exploration firms, tyre, paints, and other crude-sensitive stocks were in focus as oil prices rose for a fifth day on Thursday as a surprise drop in crude inventories extended a rally driven by hopes that vaccines would end the coronavirus pandemic and revive fuel demand.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43815.23, down by 12.87 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 43784.76 and 44023.26. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.73%, Telecom up by 0.60%, Healthcare up by 0.38%, Capital Goods up by 0.30%, Realty up by 0.23%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.46%, Energy down by 0.33%, TECK down by 0.32%, PSU down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.02%, Titan Company up by 1.05%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.59%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.57% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.32%, ONGC down by 1.18%, Asian Paints down by 0.99%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.99% and Infosys down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the 'Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), September 2020' - released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has indicated that bank credit growth decelerated to 5.8 percent in Q2 (July- September) of FY21 from 8.9 percent in the year-ago period. It also said aggregate deposits of banks rose 11 percent year-on-year in the July-September period as compared to 10.1 percent growth a year ago.

According to the data, the deceleration in bank credit growth was seen across all the population groups – rural (11.2 percent vs 14.8 percent), semi-urban (9.4 percent vs 12.3 percent), urban (8.7 percent vs 9.9 percent) and metropolitan (3.6 percent vs 7.2 percent). Annual growth (y-o-y) in credit by private sector banks moderated significantly to 6.9 percent in September 2020 from 14.4 percent a year ago, whereas it increased marginally for public sector banks to 5.7 percent from 5.2 percent over the same period last year.

Data further showed that the share of current account and saving account (CASA) in total deposits has been gradually increasing. It stood at 42.3 percent in September 2020 compared to 41.2 percent a year ago and 40.8 percent three years ago. As deposit growth exceeded credit growth, the all-India credit-deposit (C-D) ratio declined to 72 percent in September 2020 from 73.1 percent in the previous quarter.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12842.75, down by 15.65 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 12833.90 and 12916.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 1.29%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.11%, Titan Company up by 0.95%, HDFC up by 0.64% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.83%, Indusind Bank down by 1.61%, Asian Paints down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.16% and BPCL down by 1.06% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 jumped 143.78 points or 0.55% to 26,440.64, Hang Seng gained 2.77 points or 0.01% to 26,672.52, Taiwan Weighted rose 66.69 points or 0.49% to 13,805.52, KOSPI increased 1.48 points or 0.06% to 2,603.02 and Jakarta Composite added 43.77 points or 0.77% to 5,723.02. On other hand, Straits Times slipped 17.77 points or 0.62% to 2,851.78 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.32 points or 0.13% to 3,358.01.