Sensex, Nifty remain below neutral lines in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained below their neutral lines to trade in red terrain during late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading marginally lower. Mixed cues from other Asian markets impacted the sentiments over the street. However, down side remained capped, after SBI Ecowrap stated that riding high on improved economic activities the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in November is projected to be 10-month high of Rs 1.08 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.05 lakh crore in October 20. It further explained that the November 20 collections will be very close to January 20 collections (Rs 1.10 lakh crore).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, even after China's industrial profits expanded strongly in October as the economy showed signals of robust rebound from the coronavirus driven downturn. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that industrial profits advanced 28.2 percent on a yearly basis in October. This was the sixth consecutive rise in profits. During January to October period, industrial profits gained 0.7 percent from the same period last year. Data revealed that profits of state-owned enterprises decreased 7.2 percent annually, while that of private firms climbed 1.1 percent in ten months ended October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44208.37, down by 51.37 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 44071.61 and 44407.28. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.93%, while Small cap index was up by 1.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.02%, Utilities up by 1.88%, Auto up by 1.86%, Healthcare up by 1.46% and Industrials up by 1.41%, while IT down by 0.33%, Energy down by 0.29% and TECK down by 0.19% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.13%, Sun Pharma up by 1.59%, Tata Steel up by 1.44%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.17% and Titan Company up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.92%, HDFC down by 1.40%, TCS down by 1.26%, HCL Tech down by 0.99% and SBI down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said India will achieve its target of reducing 35 per cent emissions intensity of its GDP well before the year 2030. The minister signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Finland to develop cooperation between the two countries in the field of environment protection and biodiversity conservation. He said ‘India has achieved its voluntary target of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 21 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020 and is poised to achieve 35 per cent reduction well before the target year of 2030’. Emission intensity is the volume of emissions per unit of GDP.

The minister said that the MoU is a platform to further advance Indian and Finnish partnership and support, exchange best practices in areas like prevention of air and water pollution, waste management, promotion of circular economy, low-carbon solutions and sustainable management of natural resources, including forests, climate change and conservation of marine and coastal resources. He added that the MoU also provides the possibility to have joint projects in areas of mutual interest. He said ‘The MoU will strengthen technological, scientific and management capabilities. It will develop bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit with due respect to promotion of sustainable development’.

As part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted under the Paris Agreement, India has taken three quantitative climate change goals. First is reduction in the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level, second is achieving about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 and third is creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12984.85, down by 2.15 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 12945.20 and 13035.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.78%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.18%, Eicher Motors up by 2.15%, Britannia up by 1.86% and Tata Steel up by 1.80%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.13%, Power Grid down by 1.90%, HDFC down by 1.39%, HCL Tech down by 1.27% and TCS down by 1.24% 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.