Benchmarks trade higher with marginal gains in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Thursday despite mixed global cues and ahead of the expiry of weekly F&O contracts. Markets are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals on the back of buying in Consumer Durables, Basic Materials and FMCG counters. Sensex and Nifty are trading above their physiological levels of 57,400 and 17,100 marks, respectively. Traders took note of report that Goods and services tax (GST) collection moderated in August to Rs 1.12 trillion as against Rs 1.16 trillion in July, but exceeded the Rs 1-trillion mark for the second month as economic activity gained pace with a decline in Covid-19 cases. Meanwhile, the country received 24 per cent less than normal rainfall in August, a vast deviation from the IMD's predictions for the month, but latest forecasts say it is expected to be above normal in September. However, adjustment to 100 per cent peak margin norms add cautiousness in the markets.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders remain cautious as they look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday for directional clues on the economy. Back home, power stocks were in focus as power ministry data showed that India's power consumption grew 18.6 per cent in August to 129.51 billion units (BU) and remained higher than the pre-COVID level due to improved economic activities amid easing of lockdown curbs by states. In scrip specific development, Coal India rose on reporting a 15 percent in production in August. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp fell as it reported 22 percent dip in total sales in August.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57441.64, up by 103.43 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 57287.79 and 57512.08. 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 0.58%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.27%, Basic Materials up by 1.04%, FMCG up by 0.98%, Utilities up by 0.93%, Healthcare up by 0.84%, while Realty down by 0.42%, Auto down by 0.20%, Bankex down by 0.12%, IT down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.44%, Titan Company up by 1.95%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.76%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.24% and Tata Steel up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 0.62%, Asian Paints down by 0.61%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.59%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.58% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sharply increased its allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to India, in line with the country's existing quota in the fund. The RBI said IMF has made an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) equivalent to around $17.86 billion to India on August 23. This increase in SDR holdings will be reflected in the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) data that shall be published for the week ended August 27, 2021.

SDR holding is one of the components of the foreign exchange reserves of a country. The IMF makes the general SDR allocation to its members in proportion to their existing quotas in the Fund. The Board of Governors of the IMF had approved a general allocation of about SDR 456 billion on August 2, 2021, effective from August 23, 2021, of which the share of India is SDR 12.57 billion.

RBI’s data had showed the country's foreign exchange reserves declined by $2.47 billion to reach $616.895 billion in the week ended August 20. In the previous week ended August 13, 2021, the reserves had declined by $2.099 billion to $619.365 billion. The forex kitty had touched a lifetime high of $621.464 billion in the week ended August 6, 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17113.50, up by 37.25 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 17059.70 and 17132.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.72%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.43%, Cipla up by 2.42%, Titan Company up by 1.86% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.39%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.20%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.76%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.70% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.68% were the top losers. 

Asian markets are trading mixed; Straits Times fell 10.19 points or 0.33% to 3,077.65, Taiwan Weighted lost 75.91 points or 0.43% to 17,398.08, KOSPI slipped 25.28 points or 0.79% to 3,181.74 and Jakarta Composite declined 23.75 points or 0.39% to 6,067.18. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 rose 97.68 points or 0.34% to 28,548.70, Hang Seng added 36.94 points or 0.14% to 26,065.23 and Shanghai Composite was up by 19.55 points or 0.55% to 3,586.65.