Barometer gauges maintain gains; Sensex above 60k mark

Sensex crossed the 60,000 mark for the first time ever as domestic equity markets continued to trade in fine-fettle in the noon session. Currently, Sensex and Nifty trading above 60100 and 17850 levels respectively. Positive global cues, strong inflows by FIIs/DIIs, diminishing concerns about a possible third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and a pick up in the pace of vaccination against the disease have contributed to the gains in the markets. Sentiments were also perked up on report that FPIs stock holding value soars to $630 billion as of August. As of June this year, the value of FII investment was only $592 billion, which means that as the market rallied frenetically, their holding value jumped by $38 billion even though their net incremental investment was almost nil between this period. Meanwhile, traders will keep an eye on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s crucial bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden at the White House which is going to be held today. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower hurt by persistent uncertainty around the fate of debt-ridden China Evergrande.,

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60140.88, up by 255.52 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 60030.80 and 60333.00. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.30%, Realty up by 3.29%, TECK up by 1.61%, IT up by 1.36%, Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.93%, while Metal down by 1.39%, Healthcare down by 0.93%, Utilities down by 0.70%, Power down by 0.68% and FMCG was down by 0.64% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 4.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.13%, HCL Tech up by 2.92%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.71% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 2.32%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.14%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.45%, SBI down by 1.30%, Axis Bank down by 1.10% and Indusind Bank was down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has imposed a limit on the total entitlement under the Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) at Rs 5 crore per exporter for shipments made during 2019-20. Further, it has been notified that the facility to claim benefits under SEIS on payments in Indian rupees would not be available for services rendered in 2019-20. The deadline for submission of SEIS for 2019-20 will be December 31, 2021, and SEIS applications for 2019-20 will become time-barred after December 31 this year.

DGFT has stated that scrips or certificates provided under the scheme can be used for payment of basic and additional customs duties on goods imported. These are freely transferable. If an exporter is not in a position to use the scrip, they can sell it on the open market. Under five per cent rate, the sectors include professional services (like legal, taxation, engineering, veterinary and urban planning); research and development; communication (radio and television, sound recording); construction, educational, environmental, and health. Similarly, under 3 per cent rate, the services include advertising, investigation and security, packaging and printing.

In a separate notification, the DGFT said that an additional option is provided to exporters to avail extension in export obligation period till December 31 this year in case of specified advance authorisations and EPCG authorisations without any composition fees. This benefit is, however, subjected to a five per cent additional export obligation on balance exports to be fulfilled.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17887.25, up by 64.30 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 17857.50 and 17947.65. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 5.07%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.99%, HCL Tech up by 2.82%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.43% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.56%, JSW Steel down by 2.26%, Shree Cement down by 1.65%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.41% and SBI was down by 1.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng decreased 44.74 points or 0.18% to 24,466.24, Jakarta Composite lost 1.50 points or 0.02% to 6,141.21, Shanghai Composite declined 20.02 points or 0.55% to 3,622.20, Straits Times trembled 2.51 points or 0.08% to 3,073.93 and KOSPI was down by 2.34 points or 0.07% to 3,125.24.

On the flip side; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 181.97 points or 1.07% to 17,260.19 and Nikkei 225 was up by 609.41 points or 2.06% to 30,248.81.