Local equities continue to trade below neutral line

Local equity benchmarks continued their trade below neutral line in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling positions up in Utilities, IT and Metal sectors while selling was witnessed in Energy, Bankex and Oil & Gas sectors' stocks. Traders failed to took support after industry body Assocham in its latest report has said that there are signs of improved consumer confidence in several key sectors, including hospitality, of the economy. It also noted that activities in construction and renovation have been on a pick-up for the past few months leading to return of migrant workers for gainful deployment. Sector wise, textile sector remained in focus, as Centre will grant incentives to buyers to arrange the proposed mega textile parks with plug-and-play services over massive areas of at the very least 1,000 acres every, whereas states will pitch in with land.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as record high US inflation ramped up concerns the Federal Reserve will have to tighten monetary policy sooner than later. European markets were trading higher with investors buying into the idea of a strong economic recovery in the region following last week’s European Central Bank policy decision.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58236.66, down by 68.41 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 57944.63 and 58314.64. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.09%, IT up by 0.96%, Metal up by 0.91%, TECK up by 0.91% and Basic Materials was up by 0.80%, while Energy down by 1.55%, Bankex down by 0.37%, Oil & Gas down by 0.37%, Consumer Durables down by 0.10% and Auto was down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.53%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25%, HCL Tech up by 1.06%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.02% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.12%, ICICI Bank down by 1.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.93%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.74% and HDFC Bank down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the pandemic, industry body Assocham in its latest report has said that there are signs of improved consumer confidence in several key sectors, including hospitality, of the economy. It also noted that activities in construction and renovation have been on a pick-up for the past few months leading to return of migrant workers for gainful deployment.

The industry body said ''Our feedback from our member companies, including those in the SMEs points towards steady pick-up in economic activities with notable gains visible in retail trading, malls, food business and inter-state travel''.

According to the industry body Assocham, though on a low base, the Indian economy should close the financial year 2021-22 with a double-digit growth, sustaining the catch-up mode.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17363.25, down by 6.00 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 17269.15 and 17375.50. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.00%, Hindalco up by 3.31%, TCS up by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.25% and Wipro up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.10%, ICICI Bank down by 1.50%, Adani Ports down by 1.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.90% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 392.10 points or 1.5% to 25,813.81, Taiwan Weighted dropped 28.26 points or 0.16% to 17,446.31, Straits Times trembled 23.30 points or 0.75% to 3,075.50 and Jakarta Composite was down by 6.71 points or 0.11% to 6,088.16. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 2.10 points or 0.07% to 3,127.86, Shanghai Composite gained 12.26 points or 0.33% to 3,715.37 and Nikkei 225 was up by 65.53 points or 0.22% to 30,447.37.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 35.15 points or 0.5% to 7,064.35, France’s CAC increased 38.00 points or 0.57% to 6,701.77 and Germany’s DAX was up by 118.46 points or 0.76% to 15,728.27.