Key gauges edge marginally higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial losses and edged marginally higher in morning deals, defying the weak trend in global markets, paced by gains in heavyweights like Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel.  Traders took some support with Apex exporters' body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said it will focus on new products and markets for diversification with a view to boosting the country's outbound shipments. Traders also took a note of labour ministry’s statement that retail inflation for farm and rural workers eased marginally to 3.9 per cent and 3.97 per cent, respectively in August. The CPI-based inflation for farm and rural workers stood at 3.92 per cent and 4.09 per cent, respectively in July this year. Meanwhile, RBI Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao has said there is a need to mainstream green finance and devise ways for incorporating environment impact into commercial lending decisions. He said addressing climate risk in the financial sector should be the joint responsibility of stakeholders as it would affect the resilience of the financial system in the long run.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red with the mood turning cautious amid worries about slowing global growth and caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to telecom sector remained in watch as Moody's Investors Service said India's recent reforms are credit positive for telecom companies including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) because they free up cash flow for reinvestment, enable further investment in next-generation technologies and provide support for a three private plus one state-owned telecom operational structure.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58548.62, up by 57.69 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 58352.00 and 58779.42. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 1.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.02%, Telecom up by 0.69%, Oil & Gas up by 0.57%, Energy up by 0.47% and FMCG up by 0.46%, while Utilities down by 1.21%, Auto down by 1.21%, Power down by 0.89%, Consumer Durables down by 0.76% and Industrials down by 0.69% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.65%, Asian Paints up by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.26%, HCL Technologies up by 1.17% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.49%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.43%, Axis Bank down by 1.36%, ICICI Bank down by 1.32% and HDFC Bank down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ICRA Ratings in its latest report has said that with the benefits of unlocking measures tapering out, the performance of the high-frequency indicators have become ‘uneven’ since August 2021 especially when compared to the pre-COVID levels. It appears that the temporary boost, provided by the easing of state-wise restrictions after the second wave of COVID-19 ebbed, petered out. However, it said the upcoming festive season will see a rise in confidence-boosting demand, and added that it is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about it.  with the mood turning cautious amid worries about slowing global growth and caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement.

According to the report, the year-on-year (YoY) performance of eight of the 15 high-frequency indicators weakened in August 2021 compared to July 2021, partly on account of the normalisation of the base. Besides, it said passenger vehicle output was impacted because of the non-availability of semiconductors. It noted that indicators showing an improvement include the output of Coal India (CIL), electricity, ports cargo traffic, GST e-way bills and non-oil merchandise exports.

The report further said the performance of the 13 non-financial indicators in August 2021 was mixed in both month-on-month (MoM) as well as pre-COVID terms. Particularly, after a sharp recovery since June 2021, the daily average generation of GST e-way bills rose only mildly to 2.13 million in August 2021 from 2.07 million in July 2021. Icra attributes this to stabilization in dispatches rather than a signal that the industrial growth momentum is plateauing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17414.85, up by 17.95 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17356.20 and 17481.10. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.66%, JSW Steel up by 1.89%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67%, Asian Paints up by 1.53% and Grasim Industries up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.50%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.82%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.48%, Axis Bank down by 1.38% and ICICI Bank down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 549.91 points or 1.8% to 29,950.14, Hang Seng decreased 77.02 points or 0.32% to 24,022.12 and Jakarta Composite lost 44.94 points or 0.74% to 6,031.38, while Straits Times advanced 13.33 points or 0.44% to 3,055.06.