Benchmarks hit record highs; Sensex surpasses 45,400 mark

Bulls continue to strengthen their position on Dalal Street with frontline gauges hitting fresh all-time highs amid persistent foreign fund inflow and hopes for a coronavirus vaccine. Markets started the session with caution on concern over increasing 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. However, markets soon gained traction as traders turned optimistic 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.

Markets extended rally to close near all-time highs as traders took encouragement with reports that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of AYUSH have decided to work together to set up an Export Promotion Council to boost export of AYUSH products, according to an official statement on Sunday. The decision was taken recently in a joint review meeting attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of AYUSH Shripad Naik. Meanwhile, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed hope that fuel prices would stabilise as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has decided to increase the crude oil production. OPEC decided to increase the crude oil production by 5 lakh barrels a day.

Globally, European markets were trading mostly in red as rising U.S.-China tensions and continued uncertainty over a Brexit trade deal sapped investors' appetite for risk. Asian markets ended mixed on Monday, even after Japan's leading index rose to its highest level in sixteen months in October. The preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures the future economic activity, climbed to 93.8 in October from 93.3 in September. The latest reading was the highest since June last year, when it was 94.1. The coincident index increased to 89.7 in October from 84.8 in the previous month.

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. Stocks related to banking sector edged higher after the Reserve Bank of India 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.

Finally, the BSE Sensex jumped 347.42 points or 0.77% to 45,426.97, while the CNX Nifty was up by 97.20 points or 0.73% to 13,355.75.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 45,458.92 and 45,024.47, respectively and there were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 1.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.78%, FMCG up by 1.60%, PSU up by 1.59%, Healthcare up by 1.57% and Oil & Gas was up by 1.25%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.45% and Realty was down by 0.27% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.09%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.05%, HDFC up by 2.54%, ITC up by 2.50% and Indusind Bank up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.37%, Nestle down by 1.36%, Tata Steel down by 1.31%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.02% and HDFC Bank down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog vice chairman -- Rajiv Kumar has said India's economic growth may 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. India's economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5 per cent and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand.

Further, talking about banking reforms, he said the sector needs further expansion and an increase in competition because India's private debt to GDP ratio remains limit to mid 50s. Stating that in case of other emerging economy, private debt to GDP ratio is well beyond 100 per cent, Kumar said that ‘so we need to increase private debt and this will happen when our banking sector will expand’.

Besides, on the Indian agriculture sector, he said the Niti Aayog now is very strongly pushing the programmes for chemical free natural farming which has a potential to reduce cost for agriculture production dramatically and also has very positive impact on the environment. He said the expansion of natural farming all over the country will make Indian agriculture more competitive and it also promises to have a significant positive impact on farmers' income.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 13,241.95 and 13,366.65 and there were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 4.56%, Adani Ports up by 3.59%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.24%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.19% and ONGC up by 3.06%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.51%, Nestle down by 1.44%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.36%, JSW Steel down by 1.32% and Tata Steel down by 1.16% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 46.35 points or 0.83% to 5,562.80 and UK’s FTSE 100 shed 53.62 points or 0.40% to 13,245.34, while Germany’s DAX was up by 19.67 points or 0.30% to 6,569.90.

Asian markets ended mixed on Monday as the positive Chinese data and optimism over corona vaccine rollout got weighed down after news that US is preparing to impose sanctions on at least a dozen Chinese officials over their alleged role in Beijing's disqualification of elected opposition legislators in Hong Kong. Japanese shares settled lower, though it notched its highest level since April 1991 in the session, due to some profit booking and on record new corona virus infections .However, Shanghai finished lower on the intensified Sino-US tensions.