Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading with notable gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain higher. Traders were positive, after the government has notified the accounting standards for small and medium companies that revise the turnover and borrowing limits as well as help in making disclosure requirements less onerous. Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will actively pursue cases against economic offenders to bring back defrauded money of banks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after consumer sentiment in South Korea strengthened in June, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday with a composite consumer sentiment index score of 110.3 - up from 105.2 in May. Consumer sentiment regarding current living standards was unchanged, at 93, while the outlook was two points higher at 95. Consumer sentiment related to future household income was two points higher at 100, while the outlook was five points higher at 113.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52534.79, up by 228.71 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 52385.05 and 52615.03. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.49%, while Small cap index was down by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.76%, TECK up by 1.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.69%, Metal up by 0.44% and Bankex up by 0.27%, while Utilities down by 1.68%, Power down by 1.60%, Oil & Gas down by 1.31%, Energy down by 1.16% and Realty down by 0.64% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.42%, Infosys up by 2.27%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.66%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.17% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.68%, Reliance Industries down by 1.17%, NTPC down by 1.07%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.70% and ITC down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has revealed that the first wave of COVID-19 last year impacted households as their financial savings moderated to 8.2 per cent of GDP in December quarter from 10.4 per cent in the previous three-month period. The preliminary estimate of household financial savings is placed at 8.2 per cent of GDP in October-December 2020-21, exhibiting a sequential moderation for the second consecutive quarter after having spiked in the pandemic-hit June quarter.

It said ‘The moderation was driven by a significant weakening in the flow of household financial assets, which more than offset the moderation in the flow of household financial liabilities’. The ratio of household (bank) deposits to GDP declined to 3 per cent in the third quarter from 7.7 per cent in July-September. RBI further said household debt to GDP ratio, which is based on select financial instruments, has been increasing steadily since end-March 2019. It added ‘It (household debt to GDP ratio) rose sharply to 37.9 per cent at end-December 2020 from 37.1 per cent at end-September 2020’.

Despite higher borrowings from banks and housing finance companies, the flow in household financial liabilities was marginally lower in the third quarter following a marked decline in borrowings from non-banking financial companies. As per the data, financial assets, including deposits, life insurance funds, provident and pension funds, currency, investments in mutual funds and equity, and small savings, stood at Rs 6,93,001.8 crore in the third quarter. It was at Rs 7,46,821.4 crore in July-September 2020-21. Financial liabilities (loans) stood at Rs 2,48,418.7 crore in the third quarter. In the preceding quarter it was Rs 2,54,915.2 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15744.35, up by 57.40 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 15702.70 and 15762.75. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 2.47%, Infosys up by 2.31%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.66%, JSW Steel up by 1.51% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.70%, Eicher Motors down by 1.22%, Cipla down by 1.19%, Reliance Industries down by 1.18% and NTPC down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 65.58 points or 0.38% to 17,402.29, Hang Seng increased 21.89 points or 0.08% to 28,838.96, KOSPI rose 11.59 points or 0.35% to 3,287.78 and Straits Times advanced 7.81 points or 0.25% to 3,126.43. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 5.21 points or 0.15% to 3,561.01, Jakarta Composite lost 19.50 points or 0.32% to 6,015.04 and Nikkei 225 slipped 26.25 points or 0.09% to 28,848.64.