Markets trade firm in early deals; IIP, CPI data eyed

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday tracking strong global cues. Markets are trading firm in early deals with gains of around half a percent each on account of buying in almost all the sector indices led by Realty, Auto and Basic Materials, except power. Sentiments got a boost as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the economy will register a double-digit growth in the current fiscal and the disinvestment climate also looks better, with India's story remaining very strong. He also asserted that the country is prepared in a far better manner in case there is a Covid wave as states have also their own lessons from the previous two waves. Adding more optimism, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) poll of 119 top corporates showed that recovery from the second wave of the pandemic in April-May is expected to be swifter as compared to the first wave in 2020. However, upside remained capped amid reports that India's Covid caseload is on a downhill, but concerns over the Delta and Delta plus variants persist across the globe. Meanwhile, India has recorded 37,676 fresh cases taking the total caseload to 30,873,907, according to Worldometer. Investors are looking ahead to the IIP and CPI data to be out later in the day.

Global cues remained strong with all the Asian markets trading higher following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. Despite worries about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus across the world, traders seem cautiously optimistic on positive economic cues for the global economic recovery from the pandemic. Back home, sugar stocks were in focus as trade body -- All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) said that sugar mills have exported 4.75 million tonne of the sweetener so far in the ongoing 2020-21 marketing year ending September, with maximum shipments to Indonesia. In scrip specific development, BHEL traded higher as it secured an order for the supply of 12 steam generators from Nuclear Power Corporation of India. The order is valued at Rs 1,405 crore was secured under NPCIL’s Fleet Mode procurement programme.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52630.71, up by 244.52 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 52568.92 and 52685.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.80%, Auto up by 0.85%, Basic Materials up by 0.80%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.77%, PSU up by 0.74%, while Power down by 0.05% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 2.57%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.02%, ICICI Bank up by 1.32%, Indusind Bank up by 1.32% and SBI up by 1.22%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.76%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.13% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency -- ICRA has said the restructured loan books of non-bank financial entities are expected to double to 3.1-3.3 per cent by March 2022 from 1.6 per cent in March 2021 as the second wave of the pandemic hit borrowers.

It stated the pandemic and the curbs imposed to contain its spread have affected the cash flow of borrowers and prolonged the recovery process. Non-bank financial entities cover finance companies and housing finance firms (HFCs).

In view of the pandemic stress, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed lenders to restru­cture their credit while maintaining the standard asset tag in FY21. In this, the RBI has included loans to small businesses, the key target segment for non-bank finance entities, and extended the MSME restructuring window to September 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15754.65, up by 64.85 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 15746.55 and 15781.05. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 2.43%, Tata Consumer Products up by 2.21%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.04%, Grasim Industries up by 1.73% and ICICI Bank up by 1.46%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.84%, Hindalco down by 0.53%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.23% and BPCL down by 0.23% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 619.63 points or 2.22% to 28,560.05, Straits Times rose 9.73 points or 0.31% to 3,141.13, Hang Seng gained 148.27 points or 0.54% to 27,492.81, Taiwan Weighted added 118.62 points or 0.67% to 17,780.10, KOSPI jumped 31.20 points or 0.97% to 3,249.15, Jakarta Composite advanced 45.99 points or 0.76% to 6,085.83 and Shanghai Composite was up by 32.84 points or 0.93% to 3,556.93.