Markets trade firm in early deals; Nifty nears 15,050 mark

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday tracking positive global cues. Markets are trading firm in early deals on account of buying in all the sector indices led by Oil & Gas, PSU and Energy. Traders took encouragement as FICCI's Overall Business Confidence Index has witnessed a decadal high of 74.2 in the current round on account of improvement in present conditions as well as expectations. Adding more optimism, the finance ministry said that the Indian economy is likely to do better than the projection of an 8 per cent shrinkage in the current fiscal as economic activity gathers pace with mild stiffening of pandemic curve and the rollout of vaccines. Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme would lead to output worth $520 billion in India in the next five years, while industry asked for clarity on implementation across sectors. However, a spike in crude oil prices may play spoilsport. Though, upside remained capped as the coronavirus cases in India jumped to 11,229,271 with 18,691 new infections reported across the country, according to Worldometer. The death toll meanwhile reached 157,890 with 99 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red after a green opening following positive cues from Wall Street on Friday on the back of upbeat jobs data, easing bond yields and support from crude oil prices. The markets also took note of a stimulus-driven global economic recovery after the US Senate passed the long awaited $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Back home, Oil & gas stocks led the gainers as oil surged above $71 a barrel in Asian trading. In scrip specific development, BEML soared amid reports that at least six companies are looking to buy a 26 percent stake in the state-run defense equipment maker.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50750.18, up by 344.86 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 50575.16 and 50795.02. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 1.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.92%, PSU up by 2.37%, Energy up by 2.26%, Metal up by 1.87%, Utilities up by 1.79%, while there was no loser.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 5.96%, NTPC up by 2.21%, Axis Bank up by 1.95%, Reliance Industries up by 1.93% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.78%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.62%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.06%, Asian Paints down by 0.86% and Nestle down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian has said the country’s financial sector has not really grown as fast as it should have and is still very, very small. For instance, he said, while India is the fifth largest economy in the world, the largest Indian financial institution - SBI - is ranked 55th in the world.

On the other hand, countries which are a mere fraction of India’s size have several of their financial institutions featuring among the top 100 in the world. He said the Budget has made a significant push towards reforming the financial sector and adding vitality to it.

Further, he stressed that financial technology can play a significant role in improving both the quantity and the quality of the financial intermediation in the country. He said ‘while banks are investing in data architecture, we still have a long way to go in enabling the kind of data architecture that banks globally employ.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15049.45, up by 111.35 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 14984.60 and 15055.80. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 6.15%, ONGC up by 5.70%, UPL up by 3.46%, Coal India up by 2.98% and IOC up by 2.37%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.76%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.49%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.84%, Asian Paints down by 0.79% and Nestle down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 144.56 points or 0.50% to 28,719.76, Hang Seng declined 432.83 points or 1.49% to 28,665.46, KOSPI fell 10.86 points or 0.36% to 3,015.40, Jakarta Composite lost 14.55 points or 0.23% to 6,244.20, and Shanghai Composite was down by 35.48 points or 1.01% to 3,466.51. On the other hand, Straits Times jumped 56.95 points or 1.89% to 3,070.80 and Taiwan Weighted gained 41.12 points or 0.26% to 15,896.35.