Benchmarks trade lower with marginal cut in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start on Monday amid weakness in global peers as investors fretted over rising bond yields. Markets are trading near neutral lines with marginal cut in early deals as climbing Covid-19 infections in the country were dampening sentiments. India reported 47,009 fresh Covid-19 cases today pushing the overall tally to 11,645,719, according to Worldometer. With this, India has registered its highest daily spike of 2021. The death toll from the infection jumped to 160,003. Though, downside remained capped as traders took some encouragement with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India needs to grow at 10.5-11 percent in real terms in FY22 and then sustain that to overcome massive ill-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA said Vehicle Scrappage policy will provide a fillip to automotive industry volumes and spur demand for new vehicles.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower following mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with only the tech-heavy Nasdaq moving higher. Technology and oil stocks are offering some support, while investors continue to be concerned about a recent surge in global bond yields and the prospects of a global economic recovers. Meanwhile, Japan will see final January numbers for its leading and coincident indexes today.

Back home, infrastructure stocks were in focus with report that as many as 449 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.29 lakh crore. In scrip specific development, Future Retail slumped after it filed an appeal against a Delhi High Court ruling which raised hurdles to the sale of its assets to Reliance Industries. However, Tata Power Company gained after the Competition Commission of India approved its acquisition of 51 percent stake in the North Eastern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha (NESCO).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49791.92, down by 66.32 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 49460.90 and 49878.77. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.54%, Power up by 1.12%, Healthcare up by 1.08%, Basic Materials up by 0.74%, FMCG up by 0.68%, while Energy down by 0.64%, Consumer Durables down by 0.21%, Bankex down by 0.15% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.32%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.30%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.96%, NTPC up by 0.88% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.67%, Reliance Industries down by 1.32%, Titan Company down by 0.95%, Indusind Bank down by 0.82% and HDFC Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that India needs to grow at 10.5-11 percent in real terms in FY22 and then sustain that to overcome massive ill-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said India needs to be prepared for the next pandemic as the country was caught unprepared during the COVID-19 pandemic.  He also said India's economy is estimated to contract 8 percent in fiscal 2020-21.

The Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman has stated that the Indian economy is now surging towards a recovery. Noting that the business as usual will not do, he said there is a need to reduce the size of India's informal economy. He pointed out that corporations and the government are fighting the pandemic together. Development agenda cannot be entirely advanced by the government alone. Political leaders and corporate leaders need to work together.

Observing that India's political leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, had no qualms in working with corporate leaders, he said, ‘It is time again to rekindle that. Time therefore to get over this nonsense of calling names of corporate leaders or mistrusting the corporate leaders’. He noted that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the bridge between corporate and society.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14740.60, down by 3.40 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 14644.95 and 14756.75. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.39%, BPCL up by 1.55%, Sun Pharma up by 1.50%, UPL up by 1.50% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.41%, Reliance Industries down by 1.24%, Indusind Bank down by 1.10%, HDFC Bank down by 0.90% and Tata Motors down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 616.81 points or 2.07% to 29,175.24, Hang Seng slipped 53.30 points or 0.18% to 28,937.64, KOSPI inched down by 1.33 points or 0.04% to 3,038.20, and Jakarta Composite fell 38.63 points or 0.61% to 6,317.53. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 11.04 points or 0.35% to 3,145.58, Taiwan Weighted surged 85.33 points or 0.53% to 16,155.57 and Shanghai Composite was up by 30.75 points or 0.90% to 3,435.41.