Sensex, Nifty turn positive in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks turned positive in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in green terrain, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders were positive, amid a private report stating that India’s monthly services exports have largely rebounded after an initial COVID-19 shock. Besides, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan has underlined the need for improving the fiscal position of the government through reforms in farm, food and fertilizer subsidies so that additional funds can be generated for development of infrastructure and education system. He said that farm, food and fertilizer reforms are administratively easy but politically difficult in view of the ramifications.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Singapore's gross domestic product expanded 14.3 percent on year in the second quarter of 2021. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said in Wednesday's advance estimate that beat forecasts for an increase of 14.2 percent and was up sharply from the 1.3 percent gain in the previous three months. On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, GDP contracted 2.0 percent after expanding 3.1 percent in the three months prior.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52842.62, up by 72.89 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 52611.97 and 52865.44. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

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

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.63%, TECK up by 1.37%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.41% and Healthcare up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 0.72%, Energy down by 0.43%, Auto down by 0.35%, FMCG down by 0.34% and Oil & Gas down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 2.28%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.53%, Infosys up by 1.30% and Sun Pharma up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.46%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.90%, Nestle down by 0.78%, HDFC down by 0.52% and Reliance Industries down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to promote the use of alternative fertilizers, Fertiliser Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said that the government is planning to liberalise the Market Development Assistance (MDA) policy. He added ‘The expansion of this policy will fully complement the government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. The MDA policy was earlier limited to city compost only.

At present, the government gives MDA of Rs 1,500 per tonne in the form of subsidy for scaling up production and consumption of city compost made out from city waste. Mandaviya said ‘There were demands to expand this policy by incorporating organic waste like Biogas, Green Manure, organic compost of rural areas, solid/liquid slurry, etc.’

He said the commencement of Ramagundam plant in Telangana has added 12.7 lakh tonne of indigenous urea production and this will help realize the vision of the Prime Minister to make India self-reliant in urea production. He noted that the project should not only improve the availability of fertilizer to farmers but also give a boost to the economy in the region including development of infrastructure like roads, railways, ancillary industry etc. besides ensuring food security to the nation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15837.60, up by 25.25 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 15764.20 and 15840.05. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.12%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.07%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.88%, HCL Tech up by 1.86% and Infosys up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.58%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93%, UPL down by 0.92%, Nestle down by 0.89% and Britannia down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 161.94 points or 0.58% to 27,801.47, Nikkei 225 slipped 95.67 points or 0.33% to 28,622.57, KOSPI fell 12.03 points or 0.37% to 3,259.35, Shanghai Composite declined 29.26 points or 0.82% to 3,537.26, Straits Times trembled 5.54 points or 0.17% to 3,161.27, Taiwan Weighted dropped 20.64 points or 0.12% to 17,826.88 and Jakarta Composite lost 50.35 points or 0.84% to 5,961.68.