Indian equities manage to trade in green

Indian equity markets managed to trade in green territory in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Consumer Discretionary and Metal sectors while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Utilities and FMCG sector stocks. Sentiments remained positive even after Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised down India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 10 percent for the current fiscal (FY22) from 11 percent predicted earlier, citing the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic. Sector wise, sugar sector remained focused, as Fitch Solutions has said that India's ethanol consumption will increase over the next few years, driven primarily by the government's desire to support the sugar sector by boosting ethanol production but also because of the recovery in road travel following Covid-19 disruptions.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid concern that troubles at indebted developer China Evergrande could ripple across the world economy, markets and financial system. European markets were trading higher helped by M&A action in the leisure sector and an easing of tensions around embattled Chinese property group Evergrande, ahead of a key Federal Reserve meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59092.40, up by 87.13 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 58879.83 and 59178.44. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.60%, while Small cap index was up by 1.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 7.83%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.85%, Metal up by 1.48%, TECK up by 1.30% and Auto was up by 1.29%, while Bankex down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.18% and FMCG was down by 0.11% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.69%, HCL Tech. up by 1.53%, Reliance Industries up by 1.44% and Tata Steel up by 1.39%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.92%, HDFC Bank down by 0.86% and Nestle down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a major step, the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, has issued a series of orders simplifying the KYC processes and thereby initiating the telecom reforms announced by the Cabinet. Aadhaar based e-KYC process has been re-introduced for issuing of new mobile connections.

Presently, a subscriber has to undergo KYC process which entails visit to the Point of Sale along with the original documents of identity and address as proof for obtaining new mobile connection or conversion of mobile connection from Prepaid to Postpaid or vice-versa.

Online service delivery has become an acceptable norm in the recent past and most of the customer services are being offered through internet with OTP authentication. Contactless services in the COVID era needs to be promoted for subscriber convenience and also for ease of doing business. Customer consent has been made compulsory in case the Aadhaar is being used and demographic details are being obtained electronically from UIDAI.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17593.50, up by 31.50 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 17524.00 and 17610.45. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.70%, Coal India up by 3.04%, Tata Motors up by 2.67%, Hindalco up by 2.44% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.71%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.27%, ONGC down by 1.15%, HDFC Bank down by 1.03%, Nestle down by 1.02% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Straits Times trembled 12.36 points or 0.4% to 3,050.84, Nikkei 225 slipped 200.31 points or 0.67% to 29,639.40 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 350.97 points or 2.03% to 16,925.82. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 47.50 points or 0.78% to 6,108.26 and Shanghai Composite was up by 14.52 points or 0.4% to 3,628.49.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 63.74 points or 0.91% to 7,044.72, France’s CAC increased 61.45 points or 0.94% to 6,614.18 and Germany’s DAX was up by 72.67 points or 0.47% to 15,421.20.