Benchmarks trade in fine fettle in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks are trading in fine fettle in late afternoon session, on account of buying in front line counters. Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC and Bajaj Auto were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Some comfort came, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remained net buyer of the US dollar in December after it purchased $3.991 billion from the spot market. During the reporting month, the central bank bought $10.014 billion and sold $6.023 billion in the spot market. Meanwhile, rating agency, Crisil in its latest report has said that bank credit is seen growing 400-500 bps to 9-10 per cent in the next financial year (FY22) on the back of timely government and regulatory measures this fiscal, which helped the economy to recover faster than expected. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Wall Street rose as a wave of investors concern about possible higher interest rates receded. European markets were trading lower, handing back some of the sharp gains made during the previous session as investors digest a fresh warning about the coronavirus.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50088.78, up by 238.94 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 49807.12 and 50424.65. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.25%, while Small cap index was up by 1.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.20%, TECK up by 2.20%, IT up by 2.12%, Consumer Disc up by 1.90% and Telecom was up by 1.84%, while Bankex down by 0.15% and Energy was down by 0.02% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.67%, NTPC up by 3.78%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.43%, TCS up by 2.49% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.39%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.03%, HDFC down by 2.24%, Power Grid down by 1.56%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.05% and SBI down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to meet the GST compensation shortfall, the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure has released the 18th weekly instalment of Rs 4,000 crore to the States. Out of this, an amount of Rs 3,677.74 crore has been released to 23 States and an amount of Rs 322.26 crore has been released to the 3 Union Territories (UT) with Legislative Assembly (Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir & Puducherry) who are members of the GST Council. The remaining 5 States, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation.

The amount released this week was the 18th instalment of such funds provided to the States. The amount has been borrowed this week at an interest rate of 4.7924%. So far, an amount of Rs 1,04,000 crore has been borrowed by the Central Government through the special borrowing window at an weighted average interest rate of 4.8236%.

In addition to providing funds through the special borrowing window to meet the shortfall in revenue on account of GST implementation, the Government of India has also granted additional borrowing permission equivalent to 0.50 % of Gross States Domestic Product (GSDP) to the states choosing Option-I to meet GST compensation shortfall to help them in mobilising additional financial resources. All the States have given their preference for Option-I.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14849.20, up by 87.65 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 14760.80 and 14933.65. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.66%, Tata Motors up by 5.41%, Wipro up by 3.97%, NTPC up by 3.83% and Bajaj Auto up by 3.52%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.86%, HDFC down by 2.11%, Power Grid down by 1.32%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.07% and Coal India down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 356.71 points or 1.21% to 29,095.86, Nikkei 225 slipped 255.33 points or 0.86% to 29,408.17, Shanghai Composite declined 42.81 points or 1.21% to 3,508.59 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 6.92 points or 0.04% to 15,946.88. On the other hand, Straits Times advanced 6.78 points or 0.23% to 2,979.78, Jakarta Composite soared 20.69 points or 0.33% to 6,359.20 and KOSPI was up by 30.92 points or 1.03% to 3,043.87.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.32 points or 0.08% to 6,583.21, France’s CAC decreased 4.34 points or 0.07% to 5,788.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 26.85 points or 0.19% to 13,985.97.