Local indices remain in green terrain in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green terrain in morning deals, tracking gains in index majors HDFC, Ultratech Cement and Indusind Bank amid largely positive trend in global markets. Sentiments remained positive with Former RBI Governor D Subbarao’s statement that while managing a crisis is extremely difficult and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had been successful in preserving the financial stability of the economy during the present coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic. Some support also came as SBI Research in its latest report has scaled up its projections for the economy, projecting gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 7.4 per cent during the current financial year (FY21) compared to its earlier forecast of a 10.9 per cent fall. However, gains remain capped as some pessimism remained among traders with a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showing that India dropped one spot to 131 among 189 countries in the 2020 human development index.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street as U.S. lawmakers made progress toward a stimulus deal. In addition, upbeat Australian employment data for November boosted sentiment. Nevertheless, worries about the continued surge in global coronavirus cases and lockdown measures weighed on the markets. Back home, on the sectoral front, Telecom stocks were in limelight after the Centre set the ball rolling for 4G auction that is expected to fetch the exchequer Rs 3.92 trillion by offering 2,251 megahertz (MHz) airwaves. The coveted 5G spectrum has been kept out of the offer.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46771.81, up by 105.35 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 46627.60 and 46812.37. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.56%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.45%, Healthcare up by 0.88%, Basic Materials up by 0.59%, Industrials up by 0.34% and Capital Goods up by 0.32%, while Utilities down by 0.64%, Realty down by 0.55%, Metal down by 0.55%, PSU down by 0.48% and Oil & Gas down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.00%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.92%, Indusind Bank up by 1.49%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.35% and HDFC Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.50%, ITC down by 1.10%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.08%, Asian Paints down by 0.83% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, SBI Research in its latest report has scaled up its projections for the economy, projecting gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 7.4 per cent during the current financial year (FY21) compared to its earlier forecast of a 10.9 per cent fall.

It said apart from Q3 FY21, the Q4 growth will also be in positive territory (at 1.7 per cent). However, all projections are conditional on the absence of another wave of infections. The author of the report, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, believes it would take seven quarters from the fourth quarter of FY21 for GDP to reach the pre-pandemic level in nominal terms.

He said the revised GDP estimates are based on SBI 'Nowcasting Model' with 41 high-frequency indicators associated with industry activity, service activity, and global economy. He said based on this model, the GDP growth for the third quarter would be around 0.1 per cent (with downward bias).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13718.75, up by 36.05 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 13673.55 and 13724.75. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divis Lab up by 2.77%, Shree Cement up by 2.33%, HDFC up by 2.04%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.90% and Indusind Bank up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.41%, Power Grid down by 1.25%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.22%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.00% and ITC down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 52.20 points or 0.2% to 26,809.60, Hang Seng increased 21.50 points or 0.08% to 26,481.79, Shanghai Composite gained 21.26 points or 0.63% to 3,388.24 and Jakarta Composite soared 19.77 points or 0.32% to 6,138.17.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 10.63 points or 0.38% to 2,761.16, Straits Times trembled 14.14 points or 0.49% to 2,858.66 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 71.81 points or 0.5% to 14,232.65.