Equity markets turn positive in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets erased all the losses to turn positive in late afternoon session. Traders took support after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that Foreign direct investments (FDIs) into India have been continuously growing as the country has one of the most facilitative policies to attract overseas investors. He said that during April-September 2020, FDI increased 13 per cent to about $40 billion. Traders took note of report that India has released detailed guidelines for COVID-19 mass vaccination drive that will begin soon. The central government is planning to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people during the first phase of vaccination. Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech have applied for market authorisation for their vaccines. The vaccination drive will start once India approves emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine.  On the sectoral front, steel sector remained in focus, as Icra has upgraded its outlook for the Indian steel sector to stable from negative on the back of improving demand and prices. It said the domestic steel sector has witnessed a strong revival in second quarter of 2020-21.

On the global front, all Asian markets are trading lower, as surging virus infections force governments to impose tighter containment measures, trumping the rollout of vaccines, while the pound held gains on hopes for a post-Brexit trade deal. European markets were trading higher, as post-Brexit trade deal negotiations and the latest coronavirus developments continue to dominate market attention.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46306.01, up by 52.55 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 45841.67 and 46306.01. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.22%, Basic Materials up by 0.38%, Metal up by 0.27%, Capital Goods up by 0.27% and Auto was up by 0.27%, while FMCG down by 0.98%, Oil & Gas down by 0.73%, Energy down by 0.67%, Realty down by 0.58% and PSU was down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 3.79%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.27%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.51%, HDFC up by 2.30% and HCL Tech up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.52%, Axis Bank down by 1.31% and Power Grid down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, urging all the stakeholders to urgently seek ways to end the ongoing protests, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the current agitation by farmers has led to supply chain disruptions, which will impact the economy in the coming days and may impinge upon the ongoing recovery from the economic contraction due to COVID-19.

As per the industry body, the farmers' protest, which has intensified over the past couple of weeks, has led to obstruction of traffic and road blockades across multiple checkpoints in the northern states of Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and in smaller measure in many other states. The already broken supply-chain which was recovering post the pandemic-induced lockdown has come under severe stress.

The CII also observed that the effect of the agitation is more acute for industries in hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir which are dependent on goods transported by road. There is also uncertainty around the transportation of farm products to the major markets of Delhi-NCR and it could lead to significant losses to the farm sector in these states.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13568.10, up by 9.95 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 13447.05 and 13574.55. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 3.81%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.26%, Eicher Motors up by 3.09%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.56% and Adani Ports up by 2.46%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.68%, ICICI Bank down by 1.50%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.47%, Axis Bank down by 1.33% and BPCL down by 1.05% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Shanghai Composite declined 1.89 points or 0.06% to 3,367.23, Jakarta Composite lost 2.39 points or 0.04% to 6,010.13, KOSPI fell 5.38 points or 0.19% to 2,756.82, Straits Times trembled 7.93 points or 0.28% to 2,850.21, Nikkei 225 slipped 44.60 points or 0.17% to 26,687.84, Taiwan Weighted dropped 142.53 points or 1% to 14,068.52 and Hang Seng was up by 182.23 points or 0.69% to 26,207.29.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 8.06 points or 0.12% to 6,539.89, France’s CAC increased 25.16 points or 0.46% to 5,553.00 and Germany’s DAX was up by 61.12 points or 0.46% to 13,284.28.