Bulls hold grip over Dalal Street

Bulls held a tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding strong gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain higher. Traders remained positive, after rating agency ICRA has 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. Adding some relief, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said that retail sales in September this year were at 96 percent of the pre-pandemic levels of the same month in 2019 as the sector shows signs of recovery.
 
On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after Singapore's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2021, the Ministry of Trade said in advance estimate. That was in line with estimates following the upwardly revised 1.4 percent contraction in the previous three months (originally -1.8 percent).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61195.63, up by 458.58 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 61014.23 and 61205.12. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.07%, Capital Goods up by 1.76%, IT up by 1.74%, Metal up by 1.61% and Basic Materials up by 1.53%, while Auto down by 0.47% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 3.59%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.27%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.47%, NTPC up by 1.78% and Power Grid up by 1.75%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.36%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.96%, TCS down by 0.85%, HCL Tech. down by 0.67% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Rating agency Icra in its latest report has said that it expects the all-India cement production in current financial year (FY22) at 332 million tonne, up 12 per cent from last year supported by pent-up demand, rural housing requirement and pickup in infrastructure activity. It stated  domestic cement production during Apr-Aug FY22 stood at 142 million tonne, up 44 percent on year-on-year basis and up 2 per cent compared to pre-covid levels (5M FY2020).

The rural housing demand is expected to be supported by the robust kharif harvest and continued healthy procurement, supporting farm income. In FY2023, the production is expected to grow 8 percent to around 358 million tonne. The significant pick up in the infrastructure activity backed by the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is likely to see healthy traction in terms of new project awards and execution in the medium term, which is expected to boost cement demand.

With regard to profitability of cement companies, while the input costs remain elevated in Q1FY22, Icra’s sample of 12 listed cement companies, reported the highest ever OPBIDTA per tonne in the quarter under review at Rs 1,372 per tonne driven by an increase in net sales realisation and cost optimisation measures undertaken.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18314.05, up by 152.30 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 18254.50 and 18319.60. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 7.79%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 5.41%, Grasim Industries up by 4.90%, ITC up by 3.63% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.41%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.53%, Tata Motors down by 1.90%, Eicher Motors down by 1.40%, Indusind Bank down by 1.39% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.98% 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.