Benchmarks trade tad higher in early deals after cautious start

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Friday amid mixed global cues. Markets are trading tad higher in early deals on account of buying in Telecom, PSU and Oil & Gas stocks. Traders took encouragement with industry chamber PHDCCI’s statement that the economy is recovering at a fast pace from the recent lows of April and May on the back of declining new coronavirus cases, continued unlocking in various parts of the country and calibrated economic reforms announced by the government. However, upside remained capped ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) bi-monthly monetary policy announcement. The RBI is set to announce its decision on key interest rates in its bi-monthly monetary policy review on Friday at 10 am. As per a private report, the chances of any revision in interest rates are less, the street is expecting a roadmap for the inevitable policy normalisation. Some cautiousness also came in with report that India’s production of two Covid-19 vaccines will increase from September, but its target of having 1.35 billion doses by August and December looks difficult.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower ignoring the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders continue to be worried about the alarming spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variants in the region, which will impact the pace of the global economy recovery from the pandemic. Back home, the aviation industry stocks were in focus with ratings agency ICRA’s report that domestic air passenger traffic sequentially grew by 56-57 per cent at around 48-49 lakh in July. The domestic air passenger traffic stood at 31.1 lakh in June 2021. According to the ratings agency, the growth on YoY basis was 132 per cent. Besides, shares of Glenmark Life Sciences to make their Dalal Street debut.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54519.04, up by 26.20 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 54405.99 and 54583.32. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.14%, PSU up by 0.92%, Oil & Gas up by 0.88%, Utilities up by 0.86%, Industrials up by 0.53%, while IT down by 0.20%, TECK down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.04%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.15%, NTPC up by 1.07%, Sun Pharma up by 0.99% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.96%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 1.19%, Nestle down by 0.76%, Titan Company down by 0.69%, ITC down by 0.53% and TCS down by 0.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Industry chamber PHDCCI has said the economy is recovering at a fast pace from the recent lows of April and May 2021 on the back of declining new coronavirus cases, continued unlocking in various parts of the country and calibrated economic reforms announced by the government. 

At this juncture, it said there is a need to further fuel the drivers of household consumption and private investments to enhance the aggregate demand in the economy as it will have an accelerated effect on expansion of capital investments in the country.

PHDCCI President Sanjay Aggarwal suggested that more and more direct benefit transfers need to be considered for the urban and rural poor under the various welfare schemes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16307.55, up by 12.95 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 16274.85 and 16327.45. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.14%, IOC up by 1.92%, BPCL up by 1.66%, Coal India up by 1.65% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.67%, Shree Cement down by 1.28%, HCL Technologies down by 1.19%, Nestle down by 0.75% and Titan Company down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng fell 7.94 points or 0.03% to 26,196.75, Taiwan Weighted slipped 56.66 points or 0.32% to 17,546.46, KOSPI declined 11.01 points or 0.34% to 3,265.12, Jakarta Composite lost 6.52 points or 0.11% to 6,198.90 and Shanghai Composite was down by 16.70 points or 0.48% to 3,449.85. On the other hand, Nikkei rose 96.36 points or 0.35% to 225 27,824.48 and Straits Times added 4.99 points or 0.16% to 3,180.09.