Benchmarks trade firm in early deals; Sensex surpasses 58,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks started the session on optimistic note on Monday tracking gains in Asian peers. Markets are trading firm, with gains of around half a percent each, in early deals on account of buying in Energy, Capital Goods and Realty counters. Some support came in with a private report that recovering from the economic slump caused by the pandemic, hiring trends saw an improvement in August. The previous month saw a 26% on-year increase in hiring activity to 2.78 lakh. Also, the RBI data showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves soared by $16.663 billion to touch a lifetime high of $633.558 billion in the week ended August 27, mainly due to an increase in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 16,459 crore in Indian markets in August, with majority of investment coming in the debt segment. In

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading higher as traders pin hopes on a new government to implement new economic measures to alleviate the prolonged impact of the pandemic, following Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's decision to step down. Back home, Textile industry stocks were in focus as Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal said the value of textile exports should be increased to $100 billion from $33 billion currently. In scrip specific development, Reliance Industries traded higher as its subsidiary acquired majority stake in genomic testing frim Strand Life Sciences for Rs 393 crore. The acquisition by Reliance Strategic Business Ventures (RSBVL) is part of Reliance's digital health intiatives, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58408.90, up by 278.95 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 58356.43 and 58515.85. 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 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.12%, Capital Goods up by 0.89%, Realty up by 0.68%, Auto up by 0.66%, Industrials up by 0.62%, while Metal down by 0.34%, Healthcare down by 0.11%, Bankex down by 0.10%, PSU down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.86%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.88%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.17%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.07% and HCL Technologies up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.94%, Asian Paints down by 0.53%, Power Grid down by 0.48%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.32% and ITC down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) -- Shashanka Bhide has said that revival of the Indian economy would be sustained if the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.  Bhide added that prioritising expenditure to get maximum employment and income effects while controlling the pandemic are necessary in the short term. He said high inflation is a crucial concern and macroeconomic stability can be achieved when there is moderate level of inflation.

Further, he said there are clear positive signs given what the economy has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only from the direct impact but also the repercussions from the set back to the economies around the world. He noted the positive signs are indeed the recovery in the output levels from the lows that we saw in Q1: 2020-21 and then the fall again during the course of the second surge of the pandemic in April-May 2021.

According to Bhide, given that two of the three months of the first quarter of 2021-22 were in fact peaks for the severity of the pandemic, the economy appears to have managed to learn from the previous experience. The Indian economy grew by a record 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter, helped by a very weak base of last year and a sharp rebound in the manufacturing and services sectors in spite of a devastating second wave of COVID-19.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17397.75, up by 74.15 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 17379.60 and 17429.55. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.87%, Grasim Industries up by 2.68%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.66%, Eicher Motors up by 1.27% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.95%, IOC down by 0.75%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.65%, JSW Steel down by 0.64% and Power Grid down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 512.36 points or 1.76% to 29,640.47, Straits Times rose 6.78 points or 0.22% to 3,090.63, Hang Seng jumped 131.18 points or 0.51% to 26,033.17, Taiwan Weighted added 26.26 points or 0.15% to 17,543.18 and Shanghai Composite was up by 36.58 points or 1.02% to 3,618.31. On the other hand, KOSPI fell 2.28 points or 0.07% to 3,198.78 and Jakarta Composite lost 10.82 points or 0.18% to 6,116.10.