Markets trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Friday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street and ahead of the Services PMI data for August, due to be announced later in the day. Markets are trading higher in early deals on account of buying in Realty, Energy and PSU stocks. Sentiments got boost as the commerce ministry's provisional data showed that India's exports jumped 45.17 per cent to $33.14 billion in August as against $22.83 billion in the same month last year. Adding optimism, Reserve Bank of India's deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao said the account aggregator ecosystem in the country is in a nascent stage and there is a need for its orderly growth. However, upside remained capped due to a consistent rise in the coronavirus cases and fear of a third Covid wave is driving investors towards defensive bets. India reported over 45,000 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. This was also the biggest single-day rise in two months.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed amid the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders remain cautiously optimistic ahead of the release of the U.S. Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report later in the day for clues about the Fed's timelines for asset tapering and interest rate hikes. Traders also continue to be anxious amid the rapid spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in the region and in several countries, particularly in Japan and the U.S., which continues to stifle economic activity.

Back home, Telecoms stocks were in limelight as regulator Trai directed all telecom service providers to immediately ensure that only tariffs that are reported to it are offered through their channels, distributors or retailers, as it cracked the whip on discounts allegedly being doled out by some channel partners to lure customers from other networks. In scrip specific development, Reliance Industries advanced as Reliance Retail completed the acquisition of Just Dial.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57996.99, up by 144.45 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 57937.95 and 58115.69. 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 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.57%, Energy up by 0.84%, PSU up by 0.76%, Consumer Durables up by 0.73%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.65%, while Power down by 0.50%, FMCG down by 0.21%, Utilities down by 0.19%, IT down by 0.08%, TECK down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.33%, Titan Company up by 1.20%, Reliance Industries up by 1.02%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.88% and NTPC up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.05%, HCL Technologies down by 0.84%, TCS down by 0.59%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.48% and Nestle down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Ratings agency ICRA has said that fiscal balances of 19 states in the quarter ended June of current financial year (Q1FY22) are weaker than pre-Covid levels with milder recovery in revenue and spending.  The agency stated citing data from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the combined revenue receipts were only 2% higher than the pre-Covid level of Rs 4.3 lakh crore but revenue spending increased by a sharper 14% to Rs 4.9 lakh crore from Rs 4.3 lakh crore pre-Covid, possibly reflecting higher social sector spending amid the second wave of Covid-19.

Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA said ‘Accordingly, the 19 states’ combined revenue balance has slipped into a deficit of Rs 0.5 lakh crore in Q1 FY22, in contrast to the small surplus of Rs 0.1 lakh crore in Q1 FY20'.

ICRA noted that the state's own tax revenues (SOTR) in Q1 FY22 trailed the pre-Covid levels by 3 per cent, on account of stamps and registrations (S&R), and excise duty collections, even as sales tax and state goods and services tax (SGST) exceeded their pre-Covid levels.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17274.30, up by 40.15 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 17254.50 and 17311.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 2.98%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.58%, ONGC up by 1.52%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.47% and Titan Company up by 1.30%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.54%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.10%, HCL Technologies down by 0.85%, Shree Cement down by 0.67% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Straits Times declined 3.36 points or 0.11% to 3,085.48, Hang Seng lost 168.64 points or 0.65% to 25,921.79, Jakarta Composite fell 5.55 points or 0.09% to 6,072.68 and Shanghai Composite was down by 5.51 points or 0.15% to 3,591.53. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 494.90 points or 1.73% to 29,038.41, Taiwan Weighted jumped 175.56 points or 1.01% to 17,495.32 and KOSPI rose 19.15 points or 0.60% to 3,195.00.