Key gauges remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained in green terrain in morning deals, amid strong gains in IT, TECK and Oil & Gas stocks. Moreover, healthy gains among Asian peers too supported sentiment. Traders took some support with Chief financial advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy V Subramanian’s statement that India is well-poised to climate the ripple impact of taper tantrum if the US Federal Reserve begins to cut back its $120-billion-a-month quantitative easing later this year. Some optimism also came with private report stated that India has overtaken the United States (US) to become the second-most sought-after manufacturing destination globally, driven mainly by cost competitiveness. Meanwhile, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan has said the government is considering to introduce insurance bonds as an alternative to bank guarantees. Bank guarantees are usually asked for while extending a loan and typically require a collateral.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as global equities rebounded thanks to a combination of positive COVID-19 vaccine news and easing worries over tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus. Back home, on the sectoral front, agriculture industry related stocks remained in focus as the government relaxed norms for import of 12 lakh tonne of genetically modified crushed and de-oiled soya cake, used as livestock feed.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56086.08, up by 127.10 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 55999.71 and 56188.49. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.54%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.38%, TECK up by 1.12%, Oil & Gas up by 1.12%, Power up by 1.04% and Utilities up by 1.00%, while Telecom down by 0.45%, Healthcare down by 0.30% and Bankex down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.02%, Nestle up by 1.34%, HCL Technologies up by 1.22%, Infosys up by 1.20% and ITC up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.31%, Titan Company down by 1.04%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.01%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.85% and HDFC Bank down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State of Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel has said that India is likely to record exports worth $46 billion to the ASEAN region. She noted that as one of the largest destinations for Indian exports, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be an important region for India in meeting the global export target of $400 billion in financial year 2021-22.

Patel has stated that ASEAN, with over 15 per cent share in India's global engineering shipments, is likely to be a key region to focus with a target of around $16 billion of exports for 2021-22. She also said India's engineering exports to the world during the first four months (April-July) of fiscal 2021-22 was recorded at $35.3 billion and is expected to achieve the target set for fiscal 2021-22 at $105 billion.

The minister emphasized on the need for opening up new avenues of bilateral cooperation in order to enhance engineering trade and investments between India and the ASEAN. She also said this will be instrumental in achieving the landmark export target set by the government both in terms of engineering as well as merchandise exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16674.25, up by 49.65 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 16646.65 and 16699.70. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.88%, Tata Motors up by 2.56%, TCS up by 2.01%, Hindalco up by 1.90% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.09%, Titan Company down by 1.08%, Divi's Lab down by 0.77% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 152.90 points or 0.91% to 16,971.63, Jakarta Composite soared 14.42 points or 0.24% to 6,103.92, Shanghai Composite gained 12.02 points or 0.34% to 3,526.49 and Straits Times advanced 1.92 points or 0.06% to 3,109.54.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 4.21 points or 0.13% to 3,134.09, Nikkei 225 slipped 16.81 points or 0.06% to 27,715.29 and Hang Seng decreased 93.54 points or 0.36% to 25,634.38.