Benchmarks continue to trade higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning deals, with fall in covid cases and rising vaccination, coupled with improvement in economic activity. Sentiments remained up-beat with private report stating that with higher consumer confidence following the rise in vaccination levels and sitting on already-built-up-savings through the pandemic months, the top 20 per cent of upper-income consumers will help recover the near-term consumption demand. These consumers account for the bulk of the rural and urban demand. Some solace also came with former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s statement that the Indian economy has bottomed out and the formal sector is likely to get back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year. He is in favor of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways. Adding to the optimism, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said India is becoming a global investment destination and the government is committed to providing a favourable policy framework.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower hurt by persistent uncertainty around the fate of debt-ridden China Evergrande, even as more risk appetite drove gains for Wall Street and US benchmark Treasury yields. Back home, on the sectoral front, there was some reaction in insurance industry stocks as a senior Irdai member said Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has no plans to bring standard products for cyber liability insurance policy as of now.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60221.10, up by 335.74 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 60030.80 and 60333.00. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.17%, IT up by 2.11%, TECK up by 2.10%, Realty up by 1.38% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.61%, while Metal down by 1.72%, Basic Materials down by 0.55%, Consumer Durables down by 0.47%, Healthcare down by 0.43% and Power down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 5.01%, HCL Tech. up by 3.28%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.77%, Infosys up by 2.14% and TCS up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.27%, ITC down by 1.20%, SBI down by 1.01%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.89% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India is becoming a global investment destination and the government is committed to providing a favourable policy framework. He also said to improve last-mile connectivity in remote locations, the road ministry has received proposals for 15 ropeway projects.

Gadkari also sought investments from global pension funds in India's road projects.  He said ‘We can make logistic parks of worth Rs 2 lakh crore along the national highways in 2 years.’ He noted that his ministry is working on the second phase of Bharatmala Pariyojana that will go up to 2 lakh kms. He added that the government envisages building 34,800 kms of highways at a cost of about Rs 5.35 lakh crore under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase I.

The minister further stated that the road ministry is building 350 roadside amenities. He pointed out that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) needs to have a financial arm, where it can form joint ventures with companies like JPMorgan and finance road projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17902.95, up by 80.00 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 17857.50 and 17947.65. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 4.95%, HCL Technologies up by 3.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.55%, Grasim Industries up by 2.43% and Wipro up by 2.18%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.98%, Tata Steel down by 2.18%, ITC down by 1.15%, Hindalco down by 1.10% and SBI down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng decreased 6.87 points or 0.03% to 24,504.11, Straits Times trembled 3.70 points or 0.12% to 3,072.74, KOSPI fell 3.39 points or 0.11% to 3,124.19 and Shanghai Composite declined 0.07 points or 3637.87% to 2.47.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 0.02 points or 0% to 6,142.73, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 131.37 points or 0.77% to 17,209.59 and Nikkei 225 surged 591.27 points or 1.99% to 30,230.67.