Sensex, Nifty hold strong gains in late morning deals

Bulls were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning deals, with both the Sensex and Nifty trading with strong gains. Key indices maintain their gaining rally despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments remained positive, after India's central bank left its key interest rates unchanged as widely expected as inflation remains elevated. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Shaktikanta Das, voted unanimously to hold the policy repo rate at 4.00 percent. The reverse repo rate was retained at 3.35 percent. The Marginal Standing Facility or MSF rate, and the Bank rate remained unchanged at 4.25 percent. The last change in the benchmark rate was a 40 basis point cut in May, taking the cumulative reduction to 250 basis points since February 2019.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, even after South Korea posted a current account surplus of $11.66 billion in October, up from $10.21 billion in September. The goods account surplus widened to $10.15 billion, compared to the $8.03 billion in October 2019. The services account deficit decreased to $0.66 billion, from $1.72 billion in October last year, owing to an improvement in the travel and transport accounts. The primary income account surplus widened from $1.83 billion in 2019 to $2.45 billion in October of this year, in line with the increase in the investment income.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 44901.61, up by 268.96 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 44665.91 and 45033.19. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.79%, Consumer Durables up by 1.06%, Realty up by 1.03%, Bankex up by 1.03% and Metal up by 0.92%, while Energy down by 0.62%, Healthcare down by 0.10% and Oil & Gas down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 3.44%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.79%, ICICI Bank up by 2.02%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.92% and Nestle up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.84%, HCL Tech. down by 0.28%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.14% and Asian Paints down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving relief to the airlines, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the cap on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines are permitted to operate was increased from 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their pre-COVID levels. Earlier, the minister had said that the Indian airlines can operate up to 70 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights due to the prevailing demand amid the coronavirus situation.

Puri said ‘Domestic operations recommenced with 30K passengers on 25 May & have now touched a high of 2.52 lakhs on 30 Nov 2020’. He added ‘Ministry of Civil Aviation is now allowing domestic carriers to increase their operations from existing 70 per cent to 80 per cent of pre-COVID approved capacity’.

The ministry had resumed scheduled domestic passenger services from May 25, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, the airlines were allowed to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. On June 26, this was increased to 45 per cent and on September 2, it was further increased to 60 per cent. On November 11, it was increased to 70 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13199.45, up by 65.55 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 13164.65 and 13250.30. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.11%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.30%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.62%, Grasim Industries up by 2.18% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 0.92%, BPCL down by 0.72%, Divis Lab down by 0.71%, Coal India down by 0.71% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 declined 48.39 points or 0.18% to 26,760.98, Hang Seng lost 41.96 points or 0.16% to 26,686.54, Jakarta Composite fell 31.23 points or 0.54% to 5,791.71 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.11 points or 0.35% to 3,430.03. On the other hand, Straits Times increased 7.84 points or 0.28% to 2,830.18, Taiwan Weighted advanced 114.22 points or 0.82% to 14,091.31 and KOSPI surged 26.15 points or 0.97% to 2,722.37.