Bourses trade near neutral line with positive bias

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade near neutral line with positive bias in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Consumer Durables, Energy and Telecom sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, Power and Utilities sectors’ stocks. Some support came as credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service assessed the overall economic effect of the second wave to be softer than that during the first wave of pandemic last year, although delivery of and access to vaccines will determine the durability of recovery. Moody's expects the current lockdowns to have less of an adverse impact on economic activity than the nationwide lockdown in April 2020 because the latest restrictions have been more targeted, localised and less stringent. Traders took note of report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said a scheme providing interest subsidy for post and pre-shipment export credit has been extended by three months till September. Exporters get the subsidy under the Interest Equalisation Scheme for pre and post-shipment Rupee Export Credit. Earlier in April, the scheme was extended till June 30.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as South Korea's consumer price inflation slowed in June but remained above the central bank's target for the third straight month. European markets were trading mostly in green on a boost from semiconductor makers, while investors awaited a closely watched monthly jobs report from the United States later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52,424.92, up by 106.32 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 52177.68 and 52436.83. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.29%, Energy up by 0.84%, Telecom up by 0.78%, Healthcare up by 0.74% and Realty was up by 0.58%, while Metal down by 1.46%, Power down by 1.20%, Utilities down by 0.79%, Capital Goods down by 0.56% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.27%, ICICI Bank up by 1.24%, Titan Company up by 0.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.81% and SBI up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.58%, Power Grid down by 1.32%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.82%, TCS down by 0.76% and Sun Pharma down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service in its latest report has said that India's economic damage due to the second wave of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns will remain restricted to the April to June quarter.

Rating agency assessed the overall economic effect of the second wave to be softer than that during the first wave of pandemic last year, although delivery of and access to vaccines will determine the durability of recovery.

Moody's expects the current lockdowns to have less of an adverse impact on economic activity than the nationwide lockdown in April 2020 because the latest restrictions have been more targeted, localised and less stringent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,707.75, up by 27.75 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 15635.95 and 15711.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 1.56%, Reliance Industries up by 1.32%, ICICI Bank up by 1.24%, Adani Ports up by 1.07% and Titan Company up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.63%, JSW Steel down by 1.81%, Britannia down by 1.37%, Power Grid down by 1.26% and Hindalco down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 517.53 points or 1.8% to 28,310.42, Shanghai Composite declined 70.02 points or 1.95% to 3,518.76, Taiwan Weighted dropped 3.79 points or 0.02% to 17,710.15 and KOSPI was down by 0.28 points or 0.01% to 3,281.78. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 1.65 points or 0.05% to 3,125.84, Jakarta Composite soared 17.05 points or 0.28% to 6,023.01 and Nikkei 225 was up by 76.24 points or 0.27% to 28,783.28.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.60 points or 0.18% to 7,137.76 and Germany’s DAX was up by 40.56 points or 0.26% to 15,644.37. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 1.03 points or 0.02% to 6,552.79.