Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in red

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in red in morning session, as investors await the Q2 GDP print due later in the day and watch the latest developments on the vaccine front. Investors’ sentiment remain dented with SBI Research in its latest report has stated that India’s GDP likely contracted 10.7% in the second quarter, with a further recovery likely in the third quarter, citing improvements in economic indicators over October and November. However, losses remain capped as some support came with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that digital infrastructure has become indispensable to the functioning of society and India can create $1 trillion of economic value using digital technology by 2025. He also said the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic has provided an impetus to the ever-expanding digital infrastructure. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed in the absence of fresh cues from Wall Street, which was closed overnight for a holiday. Worries about the surge in coronavirus cases in Japan and news that AstraZeneca might conduct an additional global trial to evaluate the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine weighed on the market. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44214.12, down by 45.62 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 44106.62 and 44407.28. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.58%, while Small cap index was up by 1.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.46%, Oil & Gas up by 1.78%, Realty up by 1.53%, Auto up by 1.48% and Power up by 1.45%, while IT down by 0.41%, TECK down by 0.29% and Energy down by 0.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.89%, NTPC up by 2.34%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.72%, Asian Paints up by 1.19% and Sun Pharma up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.72%, TCS down by 1.15%, HDFC down by 0.90%, SBI down by 0.84% and HCL Technologies down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government said it has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to the health sector and 26 other sectors identified by the Kamath Committee. The National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC) has issued the operational guidelines for implementation of ECLGS 2.0 scheme. The scheme was announced by the government earlier this month as part of the Rs 2.65 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package.

Under ECLGS 2.0 entities with outstanding credit above Rs 50 crore and not exceeding Rs 500 crore as on February 29, 2020, which were less than or equal to 30 days past due as on February 29, 2020 are eligible. The loans provided under ECLGS 2.0 will have a five-year tenor, with a 12-month moratorium on repayment of principal.

These entities or borrower accounts will be eligible for additional funding up to 20 per cent (which could be fund based or non-fund based or both) of their total outstanding credit (fund based only) as a collateral free Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL), which would be fully guaranteed by NCGT.

In addition to ECLGS 2.0, where no annual turnover ceiling has been prescribed, it has also been decided to extend ECLGS 1.0 to entities under ECLGS which had a total credit outstanding (fund-based only) of up to Rs 50 crore as on February 29, 2020, but were previously ineligible owing to their annual turnover exceeding Rs 250 crore. All other existing criteria or terms and conditions remain unchanged.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12980.95, down by 6.05 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 12952.70 and 13035.30. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.60%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.00%, NTPC up by 2.13%, Britannia Industries up by 1.59% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.77%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.76%, Hindalco down by 1.13%, TCS down by 1.05% and SBI down by 0.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 123.17 points or 0.46% to 26,660.48, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 30.37 points or 0.22% to 13,876.03, Jakarta Composite soared 6.41 points or 0.11% to 5,766.33 and KOSPI rose 2.67 points or 0.1% to 2,628.58. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 1.61 points or 0.05% to 3,368.12, Straits Times trembled 6.79 points or 0.24% to 2,850.69 and Hang Seng decreased 42.62 points or 0.16% to 26,776.83.