Markets trade firm in early deals; Metal lead

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start of F&O expiry session on Thursday tracking bullish trend in Asian peers. Markets are trading firm in early deals with gains of around one third of a percent. Sentiments got a boost as Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian said that India is expected to hit a growth rate of 6.5-7 percent in 2022-23 and accelerate further to 8 percent in the subsequent years on the back of reforms undertaken by the government. Some support came in as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed payment system providers, prepaid card issuers, card networks and white label ATM operators access to its Centralised Payment Systems (CPS), such as real time gross settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) systems in the first phase of its plan bring non-banks in the same platform. However, upside remained capped as some cautiousness prevailed  in the markets with a private report that the Indian economy is expected to face some pressure in the current financial year due to the second wave of the pandemic, coupled with weaker consumer sentiment, but a large capex by the government can be a saving grace for the economy.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading higher following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve's comments that economic activity and employment in the US have continued to strengthen, boosting the prospects of a faster global economic rebound. Meanwhile, the upside is capped amid the ongoing Covid-19 concerns. Back home, MSME stocks were in focus with a private report stating that non-performing assets in the micro, small and medium enterprises grew in the March quarter to 12.6 per cent against 12 per cent at the end of the preceding December quarter. In scrip specific development, ABB India gained on  positing a four-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 68 crore in the June quarter compared to the year-ago period mainly due to higher revenues.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52597.28, up by 153.57 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 52563.12 and 52708.72. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.05%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, IT up by 0.71%, Basic Materials up by 0.67%, TECK up by 0.63%, while Healthcare down by 0.14%, Power down by 0.10%, FMCG down by 0.06%, Oil & Gas down by 0.03%, Capital Goods down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.96%, Titan Company up by 1.70%, Tata Steel up by 1.26%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.99% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 25.30%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.49%, HDFC down by 0.39%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.36% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that it allowed authorised non-bank payment system providers (PSPs) to participate in centralised payment systems (CPS), such as real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and national electronic fund transfer (NEFT), as direct members. PSPs include prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers, card networks, white label ATM (WLA) operators and trade receivables discounting system (TReDS) platforms.

The RBI said that on a review of extant arrangements and after detailed discussions with PSPs, it is advised that, in the first phase, authorised non-bank PSPs, viz. PPI issuers, card networks and white label ATM operators shall be eligible to participate in CPS as direct members. In April 2021 monetary policy, the RBI had announced that it will encourage participation of non-banks in the RBI-operated CPS-RTGS and NEFT systems, in a phased manner.

The RBI said direct access for non-banks to CPS lowers the overall risk in the payments ecosystem. It also brings advantages to non-banks like reduction in cost of payments, minimising dependence on banks, reducing the time taken for completing payments, eliminating the uncertainty in finality of the payments as the settlement is carried out in central bank money. The risk of failure or delay in execution of fund transfers can also be avoided when the transactions are directly initiated and processed by the non-bank entities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15747.55, up by 38.15 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 15737.80 and 15785.90. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.08%, HCL Technologies up by 1.92%, JSW Steel up by 1.69%, Titan Company up by 1.59% and Hindalco up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corp down by 25.67%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.69%, Cipla down by 0.84%, ONGC down by 0.66% and Eicher Motors down by 0.64% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 192.27 points 0.70% to or 27,773.93, Straits Times rose 16.45 points or 0.52% to 3,158.20, Hang Seng jumped 685.19 points or 2.69% to 26,159.07, Taiwan Weighted gained 190.33 points or 1.11% to 17,325.55, KOSPI added 1.26 points or 0.04% to 3,238.12, Jakarta Composite increased 29.62 points or 0.49% to 6,118.14 and Shanghai Composite was up by 34.97 points or 1.04% to 3,396.56.