Indian equity benchmarks start New Year on optimistic note

Indian equity benchmarks started the New Year on optimistic note and are trading in fine fettle in early deals. Sentiments were positive with NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar stating that India’s economy will grow at 10 per cent in real terms and by the end of next year it will reach pre-COVID-19 level. Talking about the farmers' protest against the three agriculture laws, the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman said the government is trying its best to get their understanding and that they are not misguided and their doubts are cleared. Further, support also came in on report that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India grew 21 per cent to USD 35.33 billion during April-October period of the current financial year. In the year-ago period, FDI equity inflows stood at USD 29.31 billion. Traders were getting some encouragement, retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 5.27 per cent in November compared to 5.91 per cent in October, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items.

On the global front, Most of the Asian markets are closed on Friday on account of the New Year holiday. The US markets ended higher on Thursday as rollout of coronavirus vaccines have bolstered expectations that the economy will quickly rebound from the pandemic.

Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 47913.87, up by 162.54 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 47771.15 and 47916.56. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62%, while Small cap index up by 0.56%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.93%, Industrials up by 0.70%, PSU up by 0.70%, Auto up by 0.61% and IT up by 0.49%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.01%, Healthcare down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07%, TCS up by 0.82%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.77%, SBI up by 0.76% and ONGC up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.57%, Titan Co down by 0.38%, Power Grid down by 0.29%, NTPC down by 0.20% and Nestle down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in its latest data has indicated that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India increased by 21 percent to $35.33 billion during April-October period of FY21. In the year-ago period, FDI equity inflows stood at $29.31 billion.

According to the data, during the first seven months of the current fiscal, total FDI (including re-invested earnings) increased 11 per cent to $46.82 billion from $42.06 billion in April-October 2019. Sectors which attracted maximum foreign inflows included computer software and hardware, services, trading, chemicals and automobile. The country attracts maximum funds from Singapore, the US, Mauritius, the Netherlands, the UK, France and Japan.

In the last one year, the government has eased FDI policy in several sectors including insurance intermediaries and defence. 26 FDI applications marked to DPIIT have been disposed of in 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14020.10, up by 38.35 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 13991.35 and 14028.90. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.94%, UPL up by 1.54%, SBI up by 1.13%, TCS up by 1.06% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.90%, Hindalco down by 0.81%, Titan Co down by 0.55%, Divis Lab down by 0.54% and Eicher Motors down by 0.48% were the top losers.