Benchmarks trade higher in early deals; Oil & Gas sector lead

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Monday amid mixed Asian cues. But, markets soon gather momentum and are trading higher with notable gains in early deals. Buying in Oil & Gas, Telecom and PSU stocks supported the domestic indices. Early cautiousness was due to concern over coronavirus cases. On Sunday, India reported 32,272 fresh Covid-19 cases. Its case tally now stands at 9,676,801. The country's death toll has mounted to 140,590. though, traders took encouragement with Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India's economic growth is likely to reach pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal as the GDP contraction in this financial year is expected to be less than 8 per cent. Some support also came in with report that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India crossed the $500 billion milestone during April 2000 to September 2020 period, firmly establishing the country's credentials as a safe and key investment destination in the world.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as Brexit trade talks reached stalemate and U.S.-China tensions returned to the fore. The global Covid-19 count surpassed 67 million, denting hopes of a faster economic recovery from the pandemic. Back  home, power stocks were trading under pressure as power producers' total dues owed by distribution firms rose over 29 percent Y-o-Y to Rs 1,38,187 crore in October 2020, reflecting stress in the sector. In scrip specific development, Pfizer India rallied after it sought emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine in the country. Reliance Industries edged up as the NCLT approved a resolution plan for Reliance Infratel submitted by a group entity of Reliance Industries.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 45208.04, up by 128.49 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 45024.47 and 45245.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.55%, while Small cap index was up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.58%, Telecom up by 1.32%, PSU up by 1.30%, FMCG up by 1.11%, Utilities up by 0.90%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.43%, Power down by 0.07% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.01%, ITC up by 2.04%, ICICI Bank up by 1.80%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.75% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.31%, HDFC Bank down by 1.22%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.66%, HCL Technologies down by 0.62% and TCS down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report has showed that bank credit grew at 5.82 percent to Rs 104.34 lakh crore, while deposits rose by 10.89 percent to Rs 143.71 lakh crore in the fortnight ended November 20. In the fortnight ended November 22, 2019, bank credit stood at Rs 98.60 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 129.58 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight ended November 6, advances grew by 5.67 percent and deposits by 10.63 percent. In October, non-food credit growth decelerated to 5.6 percent compared to a growth of 8.3 percent in the same month of the previous year. Growth in loans to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 7.4 percent in the month from a growth of 7.1 percent last year.

Credit to industry contracted by 1.7 percent in October 2020 as compared with 3.4 percent growth in October 2019. Growth in loans to the services sector accelerated to 9.5 percent in October 2020 from 6.5 percent in the same month of the previous year. During the month, personal loans registered a decelerated growth of 9.3 percent as compared with 17.2 percent growth in October 2019.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13301.10, up by 42.55 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 13241.95 and 13312.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.67%, ONGC up by 2.67%, GAIL India up by 2.63%, UPL up by 2.35% and BPCL up by 2.24%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.31%, Titan Company down by 1.21%, Divis Lab down by 1.12%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.85% and Hindalco down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 declined 200.05 points or 0.75% to 26,551.19, Straits Times fell 4.55 points or 0.16% to 2,835.34, Hang Seng plunged 453.86 points or 1.69% to 26,382.06 and Shanghai Composite lost 22.73 points or 0.66% to 3,421.85. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted advanced 42.11 points or 0.30% to 14,174.55, KOSPI gained 0.10 points to 2,731.55 and Jakarta Composite surged 94.06 points or 1.62% to 5,904.54.