Benchmarks trade marginally lower on last day of Calendar Year 2020

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start and are trading lower with marginal cut in early deals on last day of Calendar Year 2020, as traders remained concern on report that total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end-September 2020 from Rs 101.3 lakh crore at end-June 2020. This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6 per cent in Q2 FY21. Public debt accounted for 91.1 per cent of total outstanding liabilities at end-September 2020. The weighted average yield on primary issuances of dated securities showed further moderation to 5.80 per cent in Q2 of FY21 from 5.85 per cent in Q1 FY21. Meanwhile, India’s current account surplus moderated to $15.5 billion (2.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product) in quarter ended September 2020 (Q2FY21) from $19.2 billion (3.8 per cent of GDP) in (Q1FY21). The current account balance was in deficit to the tune of $7.6 billion in Q2 of 2019-20 (1.1 per cent of GDP). However, Downside remained capped as the commerce ministry said an import monitoring system is being developed for several sectors, including aluminium, copper, footwear, furniture, sports goods, and gym equipment. The system would help gather advanced information on imports of these products and make it available to the stakeholders, including government and domestic industries. The system is already in place for steel and coal.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday following the modest gains overnight on Wall Street after U.K. regulators approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford for emergency use. US markets ended higher on Wednesday as $600 stimulus checks were set to hit the bank accounts of millions of Americans later this week. Back home, stock specific development, shares of Adani Green Energy (AGEL) gained on the BSE in the early morning trade on Thursday after the company announced that its subsidiary Adani Solar Energy Kutchh Two Private Limited, has commissioned 100 MWac solar power project at Khirsara, Gujarat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47744.23, down by 1.99 points  after trading in a range of 47602.12 and 47801.53. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.22%, while Small cap index up by 0.37%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.57%, Consumer Durables up by 0.55%, Oil & Gas up by 0.47%, Industrials up by 0.41% and Energy up by 0.40%, while IT down by 0.41%, TECK down by 0.37%, FMCG down by 0.16%, Utilities down by 0.14% and Basic Materials down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.50%, ICICI Bank up by 0.78%, Titan Co up by 0.37%, Reliance Industries up by 0.29% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.13%, SBI down by 0.52%, TCS down by 0.51%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.47% and NTPC down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance ministry in its latest quarterly report on public debt management has said that total liabilities of the government increased to Rs 107.04 lakh crore at end of Q2 (July- September) of FY21 from Rs 101.3 lakh crore at end of Q1 (April-June) of FY21. This represented a quarter-on-quarter increase of 5.6 percent in Q2 FY21.

According to the report, Public debt accounted for 91.1 percent of total outstanding liabilities at end-September 2020. The weighted average yield on primary issuances of dated securities showed further moderation to 5.80 percent in Q2 of FY21 from 5.85 percent in Q1 FY21. During Q2 FY21, 13 tranches of auctions were held for issuance of dated securities aggregating to Rs 4,20,000 crore, which was slightly more than the pre-announced calendar because of exercising of greenshoe option.

The report further stated that the central government issued dated securities worth Rs 3,46,000 crore in the first quarter as against Rs 2,21,000 crore in the same period a year ago. The ownership pattern of central government securities shows that the share of commercial banks stood at 38.6 per cent at end-September 2020, lower than 40.4 percent at end-March 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13979.80, down by 2.15 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 13936.45 and 13997.85. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.61%, Tata Motors up by 1.06%, ICICI Bank up by 0.82%, Sun Pharma up by 0.76% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 1.16%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.85%, UPL down by 0.77%, NTPC down by 0.66% and Eicher Motors down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng jumped 136.63 points or 0.50% to 27,283.74, Taiwan Weighted surged 7.07 points or 0.05% to 14,694.77 and Shanghai Composite was up by 27.71 points or 0.81% to 3,442.16.  However, Straits Times fell 16.84 points or 0.59% to 2,852.38.