Firm trade persists on Dalal street

Mirroring their Asian peers, Indian equity markets were trading in fine fettle with Sensex and Nifty crossing 46,250 and 13,550 levels in the afternoon session due to buying in realty, IT and technology stocks. Gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra and Infosys also helped lift the markets. Traders remain energized 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. Meanwhile, according to private report India is likely to approve Oxford/AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer submitted additional data sought by authorities.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher after President Donald Trump suggested he may veto a $900 billion economic aid plan and the World Bank said it expects China to eke out 2% growth this year and accelerate in 2021. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, Firstsource Solutions jumped after the company announced that the firm has acquired PatientMatters, a healthcare Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) solutions provider and Parag Milk Foods jumped on expanding Health & Nutrition portfolio.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46284.20, up by 277.51 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 45899.10 and 46287.24. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.50%, while Small cap index was up by 2.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.67%, IT up by 1.91%, TECK up by 1.68%, Industrials up by 1.43% and Healthcare was up by 1.29%, while Oil & Gas was down by 0.10% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.54%, Infosys up by 1.90%, SBI up by 1.84% and Indusind Bank was up by 1.65%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.21%, NTPC down by 1.01%, Titan Company down by 0.64%, HDFC down by 0.54% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile; Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government is planning to extend the suspension of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) till March 31, 2021 to help businesses cope with major stress posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. She said the government has taken several measures, including deferment of tax payment date, to help businesses and people. She also said not only the compliance but even the payments for the taxation related payment which companies have to do were all postponed so that nobody is put to difficulty.

Sitharaman has stated that as part of the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' package, the government raised the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh, which largely insulated micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from bankruptcy on defaulting on loans. She said ‘gradually even the suspension of the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code)... further from December 25, I think...it can be up to March 31, 2021. So the entire year IBC has been suspended, rightfully so because every industry has gone through major stress because of the pandemic. And nobody could be drawn towards insolvency process which may have occurred during the pandemic’.

The minister further said an ordinance was promulgated in June for suspension of fresh insolvency proceedings and the same came into effect from March 25 -- the day when the nationwide lockdown had come into effect. She said a bill to replace the ordinance that had amended the IBC was cleared by Parliament in September. She noted that the corporate affairs ministry, which is implementing the IBC, has suspended Sections 7, 9 and 10 to provide relief to companies reeling under the impact of the pandemic. She added that Sections 7, 9 and 10 deals with initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process by a financial creditor, operational creditor and corporate debtor, respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13554.00, up by 87.70 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 13432.20 and 13554.55. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.37%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.58%, Cipla up by 2.42% and Infosys was up by 2.01%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.10%, Divis Lab down by 1.00%, NTPC down by 0.81%, HDFC down by 0.67% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Shanghai Composite gained 19.16 points or 0.57% to 3,375.94, Straits Times advanced 3.50 points or 0.12% to 2,830.82, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 45.63 points or 0.32% to 14,223.09, KOSPI rose 26.14 points or 0.96% to 2,759.82, Nikkei 225 surged 88.40 points or 0.33% to 26,524.79 and Hang Seng was up by 143.45 points or 0.55% to 26,262.70. On the other hand; Jakarta Composite was down by 33.03 points or 0.55% to 5,990.26.