Weak trade continues over Dalal Street in late morning session

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading below their neutral lines. Sentiments over the Street remained negative despite positive cues from other Asian markets. However, down side remained capped, after IT industry body Nasscom said that Indian tech start-ups are witnessing a gradual recovery with revenue acceleration and funding improving their cash availability and giving them longer runway to operate. Nasscom had conducted a 'Start-up Pulse Survey II' to understand what has changed and what the next six months look like for the tech start-up ecosystem in the country. The first survey was conducted in April–May this year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the Bank of Korea retained its interest rate at a record low and lifted its growth outlook as exports are set to improve gradually with global recovery, and investment maintains its growth. The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea, on Thursday, decided to hold its key policy rate at 0.50 percent, as widely expected. The bank projected the economy to contract 1.1 percent this year instead of 1.3 percent decline estimated previously. The outlook for next year was revised up to 3 percent from 2.8 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43786.50, down by 41.60 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 43655.60 and 44023.26. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.60%, Metal up by 0.56%, Telecom up by 0.43%, Healthcare up by 0.40% and Basic Materials up by 0.37%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.40%, Utilities down by 0.30%, TECK down by 0.29% and Power down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.76%, HCL Tech up by 1.55%, Axis Bank up by 1.38%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.21% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.61%, Indusind Bank down by 1.29%, Asian Paints down by 1.12%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.05% and Infosys down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid moderating revenues due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Finance Ministry has asked ministries and departments to restrict their expenditure for the remaining months of the current fiscal as per the Revised Estimates (RE) target. The Budget meetings for fixing Revised Estimates for 2020-21 and Budget Estimates (BE) for 2021-22 were held between October 16 and November 12.

The Finance Ministry said that ministries and departments are requested to strictly adhere to the expenditure ceiling decided in the meeting. It added ‘Financial Advisers may ensure that the expenditure is maintained within the ceiling decided during the meetings for RE 2020-21’.

Meanwhile, the government’s fiscal deficit rose to Rs 9.14 lakh crore, about 114.8 per cent of the annual budget estimate, during the first six months of the current financial year, mainly on account of poor revenue realisation. The total expenditure incurred by the government was Rs 14,79,410 crore (48.63 per cent of BE 2020-21), out of which Rs 13,13,574 crore was on revenue account and Rs 1,65,836 crore on capital account.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12833.15, down by 25.25 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 12805.20 and 12916.75. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65%, HCL Tech up by 1.41%, Axis Bank up by 1.33% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.12%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.67%, BPCL down by 1.54%, Indusind Bank down by 1.41% and Infosys down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 186.91 points or 0.71% to 26,483.77, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 89.18 points or 0.65% to 13,828.01, Hang Seng increased 46.80 points or 0.18% to 26,716.55, Jakarta Composite soared 39.47 points or 0.69% to 5,718.72 and KOSPI rose 14.60 points or 0.56% to 2,616.14. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 4.32 points or 0.13% to 3,358.01 and Straits Times trembled 20.79 points or 0.72% to 2,848.76.