Local indices add gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks added to their early gains in morning deals, lifted by Realty, Industrials and Auto stocks. Sentiments remained positive with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s EBM Index (Economic and Business Momentum Index) has stated that the continuous improvement in the key economic and business indicators signals that the worst is behind us and expectations of positive GDP growth at 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent in Q3 and 2 per cent to 4 per cent in Q4 FY 2020-21 are becoming strong with a higher growth trajectory in FY 2021-22 at 7.7 per cent. Some support also came with rating agency ICRA’s report that the domestic securitization volumes of retail pools originated by non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing finance companies (HFC)) are likely to witness a healthy bounce back in FY2022, after witnessing a sharp contraction in the current fiscal so far. Separately, with a view to mobilize Rs 111 lakh crore required for funding of the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline, Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda has said that the government plans to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) in the next three to four months.

On the flip side, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after President Donald Trump suggested he may veto a $900 billion economic aid package. Besides, minutes from the central bank's meeting on revealed that members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting said that the country's economy is starting to show signs of recovery following the lengthy COVID-19 shutdown. The minutes also showed that further coordination of fiscal and monetary policy may be necessary as employment and income remained at low levels due to the shutdown. The country also slipped back into deflation after finally shaking off more than a decade's worth of it not that long ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46239.46, up by 232.77 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 45899.10 and 46252.53. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.39%, while Small cap index was up by 2.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.35%, Industrials up by 1.43%, Auto up by 1.40%, Healthcare up by 1.38% and Consumer Discretionary up by 1.25%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.01% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.27%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.07%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.71% and Indusind Bank up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.55%, ONGC down by 0.33%, HDFC down by 0.26%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.13% and Reliance Industries down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s EBM Index (Economic and Business Momentum Index) has stated that the continuous improvement in the key economic and business indicators signals that the worst is behind us and expectations of positive GDP growth at 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent in Q3 and 2 per cent to 4 per cent in Q4 FY 2020-21 are becoming strong with a higher growth trajectory in FY 2021-22 at 7.7 per cent.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry -- Sanjay Aggarwal said the series of stimulus announcements by the Government in last 9 months under the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 along with the calibrated measures undertaken by the RBI have pulled the economy from the lows of Q1 FY 2020-21 (-) 23.9 per cent in Q1 2020-21 to (-) 7.5 per cent in Q2 FY 2020-21. He said the overall growth for the FY 2020-21 is expected to contract by (-) 7.9 per cent.

The growth trend of PHDCCI EMB Index suggests that the economy has the potential to rejuvenate at more than 7.7 per cent growth trajectory in the next financial year 2021-22. On a monthly basis, PHDCCI EBMI has shown steady recovery from the lows of 78.3 in April 2020 to 85.7 in May 2020, 91.6 in June 2020, 95.5 in July 2020, 95.9 in August 2020, 96.5 in September 2020 and 96.7 in October 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13532.15, up by 65.85 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 13432.20 and 13539.00. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.72%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.61%, Cipla up by 2.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.22% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Divis Lab down by 0.83%, HDFC down by 0.51%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.41%, ONGC down by 0.33% and Power Grid down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 89.29 points or 0.34% to 26,208.54, Nikkei 225 surged 82.02 points or 0.31% to 26,518.41, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 46.82 points or 0.33% to 14,224.28, Shanghai Composite gained 28.57 points or 0.85% to 3,385.35, KOSPI rose 26.35 points or 0.96% to 2,760.03 and Straits Times advanced 0.28 points or 0.01% to 2,827.60.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 26.58 points or 0.44% to 5,996.71.