Benchmarks trade firm in early deals; Realty, Auto lead

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start following mostly positive cues from global peers. Markets are trading firm in early deals on account of buying in Realty, Auto and Bankex stocks. Sentiments got a boost as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Indian economy is on a sustained path of revival and cited rise in GST collections and direct taxes to support her assertion. Traders also took encouragement as the Finance Ministry said net direct tax collection grew 74.4 per cent to Rs 5.70 lakh crore between April 1 to September 22 this fiscal. Adding more optimism, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said the government plans to increase public sector undertakings' (PSUs) income and create employment through the disinvestment process. Meanwhile, India recorded a spike of 27,000 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The country also witnessed 280 deaths, taking the death toll to 447,225.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading higher following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with crude oil prices providing support, even as traders continue to express concerns that the coronavirus situation in the region and other countries, particularly in the U.S., could dent the pace of global economic recovery from the pandemic.

Back home, in scrip specific developments, NTPC gained on bagging 1.9 GW solar projects in CPSU Scheme-II tender. With this, NTPC now has over 6.3 GW capacity won through competitive biddings. This shall pave the way for NTPC's plan of 60 GW RE (renewable energy) capacity by 2032. However, United Breweries slipped as Competition Commission imposed penalties totalling over Rs 873 crore on the company, Carlsberg India, All India Brewers' Association (AIBA) and 11 individuals for cartelisation in the sale and supply of beer.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60307.86, up by 259.39 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 60182.87 and 60359.88. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.14%, while Small cap index up was by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.44%, Auto up by 1.26%, Bankex up by 1.10%, PSU up by 0.72%, Oil & Gas up by 0.60%, while Healthcare down by 0.92%, Power down by 0.54%, FMCG down by 0.46%, IT down by 0.38%, TECK down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.11%, HDFC Bank up by 1.82%, SBI up by 1.44%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.18% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.72%, Nestle down by 1.13%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.00%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.85% and ITC down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad has said the government plans to increase public sector undertakings' (PSUs) income and create employment through the disinvestment process. He said public sector companies provide employment to 14 lakh (1.4 million) people in the country.

He said disinvestment doesn't mean that the companies are making losses, but the government has different plans to increase their income and to increase jobs. He said the government has decided to garner around Rs 6 lakh crore by way of monetisation.

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a Rs 6-lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways. The plan, designed by the NITI Aayog, intends to sell off/lease public sector assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore to private companies in four financial years between 2021-22 and 2024-25.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17922.95, up by 69.75 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 17891.75 and 17933.20. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.15%, ONGC up by 2.02%, HDFC Bank up by 1.87%, Tata Motors up by 1.87% and SBI up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.93%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.81%, Wipro down by 1.42%, Cipla down by 1.20% and Nestle down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 added 7.97 points or 0.03% to 30,256.78, Straits Times surged 36.12 points or 1.18% to 3,097.47, Hang Seng rose 105.99 points or 0.44% to 24,298.15, Taiwan Weighted gained 1.12 points or 0.01% to 17,261.31 and KOSPI jumped 8.38 points or 0.27% to 3,133.62. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite fell 13.46 points or 0.22% to 6,131.36 and Shanghai Composite was down by 47.13 points or 1.30% to 3,565.94.