Bourses continue to trade in high spirit

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty crossing 58,900 and 17,550 levels due to heavy buying in Telecom, Energy and FMCG stocks. Gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Indusind Bank, ITC and SBI also helped lift the markets. Sentiment got boost as govt has approved a big-bang relief package for the stressed telecom sector that includes a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid and 100% foreign investment through the automatic route. Also, govt approved a revised Rs 25,938 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto and auto-components industries to enhance the domestic manufacturing capabilities.

Additional support came in as United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has pegged India's economic growth rate to hit a four-year high of 7.2 per cent for 2021 against a contraction of 7 per cent in 2020. On the global front; most of the Asian markets were trading lower as the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group and Beijing’s latest push to rein in private industries hurt sentiment.

Back home, on the sectoral front, PSU stocks were in buzz as govt has cleared a proposal to provide government guarantee to security receipts issued by the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) as part of resolution of bad loans.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58959.15, up by 235.95 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 58700.50 and 59010.54. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.85%, Energy up by 1.49%, FMCG up by 1.42%, Bankex up by 1.13% and PSU was up by 0.82%, while IT down by 0.95%, Metal down by 0.75%, TECK down by 0.63%, Basic Materials down by 0.61% and Realty was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 8.06%, ITC up by 6.60%, SBI up by 2.35%, Reliance Industries up by 2.02% and Power Grid was up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.44%, TCS down by 1.38%, Tata Steel down by 1.25%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.91% and HCL Tech was down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Retailers Association of India (RAI) in its latest survey has said that retail sales improved in August and reached 88 percent of the pre-pandemic levels. In July, retail sales stood at 72 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels of July 2019.

According to the survey, retail businesses in the North and the South of India have indicated sales nearing recovery in August 2021 with sales at 98 per cent and 97 per cent respectively, of the pre-pandemic levels (August 2019), as against 78 per cent (North India) and 82 per cent (South India) sales in July 2021. Sales in western and eastern markets reached 76 per cent and 81 per cent of pre-pandemic levels (August 2019). The figure stood at 57 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively, in July 2021.

RAI hopes that the festive season will bring back cheer to the retail industry across sectors and those employed in it. It said some categories even witnessed growth over the pre-pandemic levels.  It noted that though recovery at the moment looks encouraging across categories, retailers continue to maintain cautious optimism due to the possibility of a third wave of the pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17579.95, up by 60.50 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 17510.45 and 17589.00. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 8.55%, ITC up by 6.67%, SBI up by 2.49%, Reliance Industries up by 2.03% and Power Grid was up by 1.29%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 10.43%, Coal India down by 2.08%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.46%, TCS down by 1.39% and Shree Cement was down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 188.37 points or 0.62% to 30,323.34, Shanghai Composite declined 44.10 points or 1.21% to 3,612.12, Hang Seng decreased 486.66 points or 1.94% to 24,546.55, Taiwan Weighted dropped 75.30 points or 0.43% to 17,278.70 and KOSPI was down by 22.63 points or 0.72% to 3,130.77

On the other hand; Jakarta Composite soared 3.13 points or 0.05% to 6,113.36 and Straits Times was up by 6.51 points or 0.21% to 3,065.12.