Benchmarks trade tad higher in early deals; ONGC lead gainers

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Wednesday and soon slipped below natural lines. But, markets managed to keep their head above water in early deals on account of buying in PSU, Telecom and Consumer Durables stocks. Early cautiousness was due to rising coronavirus cases in the country. With 17,908 fresh Covid-19 cases, India's caseload now stands at 10,375,478. The country's death toll has crossed the 150,000-mark. One more patient at a Delhi government-run hospital has been found infected with the UK strain of novel coronavirus, taking the tally in the national capital to nine. Though, traders took some support as the finance ministry said the impending vaccination drive in various countries, coupled with sustained improvement in high frequency indicators, helped the economy perform better in H2FY21. Adding more optimism Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the government has not banned the export of COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPITT) or the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) have not made any changes to export rules, thus, vaccine exports are allowed.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors remained cautious as they awaited the results of two key Senate runoffs in Georgia. The elections will determine how much U.S. President-elect Joe Biden can push through Democrats' agenda, including rewriting the tax code as well as boosting stimulus and infrastructure spending. Back home, investors are eyeing Markit Services PMI data for December slated to be released later in the day for further cues. Telecom stocks were in focus as the Department of Telecom is expected to issue the notice for upcoming spectrum auction this week that will have timelines and rules to bid for airwaves. In scrip specific development, ONGC gained after oil prices jumped about 5 percent overnight following Saudi Arabia's decision to cut oil production.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48459.59, up by 21.81 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 48372.96 and 48616.66. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.57%, Telecom up by 1.49%, Consumer Durables up by 1.43%, Metal up by 1.36%, Oil & Gas up by 1.24%, while FMCG down by 0.68%, Energy down by 0.32%, IT down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.21%, Titan Company up by 2.58%, SBI up by 2.08%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.43% and ICICI Bank up by 1.42%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.70%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.80%, Reliance Industries down by 0.80%, TCS down by 0.37% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.32% were the top losers.

meanwhile, the Finance Ministry in its monthly economic report has said that approval of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine provides strength to the optimism on both health and economic fronts, despite continuing surge in global cases and the potential challenge of a mutant strain. It noted that the effective management of COVID-19 spread despite the festive season and onset of the winter season, combined with sustained improvement in high-frequency indicators and V-shaped recovery along with easing of lockdown restrictions distinguish Indian economy as one riding against the COVID-wave.

According to the report, India has been successful in bending the COVID-curve till now, with reducing weekly/daily infections, rising recovery rate (now at around 95 percent) and one of the world's lowest case fatality rates. The downside risk, however, remains due to the spread of the UK variant and fatigue from social distancing guidelines. It added that the emphasis on continued observation of 'COVID appropriate' behaviour with the due exercise of caution and surveillance needs to be sustained.

Sharing improvement in some of the high-frequency data, the report said the sustained spurt in commercial and industrial activity was further corroborated by continued growth in PMI manufacturing, power demand, persistent improvement in E-way bills generated and highway toll collection rising above pre-COVID levels. It also said monthly GST collections attained their record levels in December. The gross GST revenue collected in December 2020 was Rs 1,15,174 crore, the highest since the introduction of Goods and Services Tax from July 1, 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14212.55, up by 13.05 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 14183.35 and 14244.15. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 3.33%, ONGC up by 3.16%, SBI up by 2.40%, Titan Company up by 2.27% and IOC up by 1.94%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.47%, Reliance Industries down by 1.02%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.76%, Eicher Motors down by 0.48% and Hindalco down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 lost 152.63 points or 0.56% to 27,006.00, Straits Times declined 2.60 points or 0.09% to 2,857.08, Hang Seng fell 239.31 points or 0.87% to 27,410.55, Taiwan Weighted weakened 30.26 points or 0.20% to 14,969.77, KOSPI dropped 19.77 points or 0.66% to 2,970.80, Jakarta Composite decreased 35.81 points or 0.58% to 6,101.53 and Shanghai Composite was down by 5.96 points or 0.17% to 3,522.72.