Local indices continue to trade higher in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning session, following gains in Asian peers. Most key sectoral indices witnessed buying with Metal, Realty and Capital Goods indices leading the pack. Sentiments remained positive with World Bank president David Malpass’ statement that the Indian economy that was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic is now in recovery mode. He also said that India, which faces huge challenges of integrating more people into the formal sector economy and raising the earnings of the people, has made some progress but that's not enough. Traders also took a note of a private report that India remained at the third position on Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI), which ranks the world's top 40 markets (nations) on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities. Meanwhile, India is unlikely to revise its digital tax regime even after it agreed to overall tax norms along with 135 OECD nations. These countries including India had agreed on the global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent and doing away with digital taxes.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green after investors digested the inflation data from the U.S., and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to Fertiliser sector remained in focus as rating agency ICRA termed the government's decision to provide a special one-time package for extra subsidy on DAP fertiliser as positive for farmers as well as the industry, and said the availability of key nutrients will improve in the coming months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61092.40, up by 355.35 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 61014.23 and 61159.48. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.09%, Realty up by 1.98%, Capital Goods up by 1.95%, Basic Materials up by 1.60% and IT up by 1.54%, while Auto down by 0.72% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.36%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.42%, Tata Steel up by 2.12%, Infosys up by 1.83% and SBI up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.97%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.91%, TCS down by 0.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.61% and HCL Technologies down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, World Bank president David Malpass has said the Indian economy that was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic is now in recovery mode. He also said that India, which faces huge challenges of integrating more people into the formal sector economy and raising the earnings of the people, has made some progress but that's not enough. 

Malpass said ‘Indians were hard hit by the waves of COVID and that's unfortunate. They responded with the huge production of vaccines and there's been progress on the vaccination effort. But we have to recognise the hit that COVID caused on the Indian economy and especially on the informal sector of the Indian economy which is large.’ He noted that India, like other nations, is now facing a supply chain disruption due to the COVID-19. 

He further said ‘I'm giving the general mixed view that there's progress, but not enough. India faces huge challenges of integrating more people into their economy into the formal sector economy and raising the earnings of people’. He added that the Indian government is focused on that. Recently, the World Bank has revised the country's growth forecast to 8.3 per cent for the current financial year 2021-22, compared to the earlier estimate of 10.1 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18279.80, up by 118.05 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 18254.50 and 18294.75. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 6.11%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 4.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.36%, Grasim Industries up by 3.31% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.47%, Coal India down by 1.18%, Indusind Bank down by 1.08%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.88% and HCL Technologies down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 69.51 points or 0.43% to 16,417.50, Nikkei 225 surged 369.60 points or 1.31% to 28,509.88, Shanghai Composite gained 5.38 points or 0.15% to 3,567.14, KOSPI rose 30.74 points or 1.04% to 2,975.15, Jakarta Composite soared 68.10 points or 1.04% to 6,605.00 and Straits Times advanced 10.94 points or 0.35% to 3,167.36.