Key indices cut gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks cut some of their gains in late morning session but remained in green terrain, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain in green. Traders were positive, as India Inc said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement of Rs 30,600 crore-government guarantee for the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) for acquiring stressed loan assets is a landmark development and will help unclog the capital locked in the form of bad assets. Besides, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest article has said that the uptick in the credit growth in the recent months notwithstanding the second COVID-19 wave augurs well for the economy. Bank credit growth has witnessed significant fluctuations in the past one and a half decades.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Hong Kong's unemployment rate declined in August. The labor force statistics from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent in three months to August from 5.0 percent in three months to July. The underemployment rate decreased to 2.2 percent from 2.4 percent in the preceding period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59441.23, up by 300.07 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 59276.80 and 59737.32. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.75%, while Small cap index was down by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 0.76%, IT up by 0.69%, Consumer Durables up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.42% and Telecom up by 0.28%, while Metal down by 2.51%, Power down by 1.80%, Realty down by 1.54%, Basic Materials down by 1.51% and Utilities down by 1.51% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.51%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.67%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.40%, Titan Co up by 1.43% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.31%, SBI down by 1.53%, NTPC down by 0.97%, Indusind Bank down by 0.88% and Sun Pharma down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said  the Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026 as the government has given a major boost to the sector with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme announced and liberalised rules implemented last month. The Civil Aviation Ministry approved a PLI scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years.

The PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, released by the Centre on August 25. Scindia said ‘With Drone Policy (Rules) and Drone PLI scheme, we have an aim that drone manufacturing companies in India should reach a turnover of Rs 900 crore in the coming three years.’

He mentioned, currently, Indian drone manufacturing companies have a turnover of approximately Rs 80 crore. He said the three parts of the entire value chain in the drone sector are hardware (drone manufacturer), software and service delivery. He sated ‘If you combine turnover of all three parts of the drone sector, it is our estimate that by 2026, it will stand at USD 1.8 billion. This means that this industry will have a turnover of approximately Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000 crore by then.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17696.00, up by 66.50 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 17647.55 and 17792.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.31%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.51%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.22%, Titan Co up by 1.48% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.49%, Coal India down by 3.14%, ONGC down by 2.10%, Hindalco down by 1.73% and JSW Steel down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 157.62 points or 0.52% to 30,480.96, Hang Seng increased 97.60 points or 0.4% to 24,765.45, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 83.99 points or 0.49% to 17,362.69 and KOSPI rose 4.80 points or 0.15% to 3,134.89. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 4.39 points or 0.14% to 3,060.15, Jakarta Composite lost 11.06 points or 0.18% to 6,098.88 and Shanghai Composite declined 21.38 points or 0.59% to 3,585.71.