Indian benchmarks turned flat in late trade with high volatility as traders remained on sidelines ahead of F&O series expiry this week on Thursday. Weakness in select IT and financial shares too dragged key gauges lower, while buying in banking and metal stocks helped markets to trade near neutral lines. Traders were concerned after foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net sellers in Indian market by pulling out Rs 3,825 crore in October so far. In the past two months, huge buying was witnessed in the debt segment when FPIs had Rs 13,363 crore in September and Rs 14,376.2 crore in August. Sector wise, Real estate sector remain in focused, as Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that the real estate sector plays a multiplier effect in the development of the economy and is expected to reach a market size of $1 trillion by 2030, accounting for 18-20 per cent of India's GDP.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a virtual conference that the present high-price pressure may not subside soon and that the central bank was on track to start tapering its stimulus. European markets were trading mostly in green as traders prepared for a flurry of Big Tech earnings reports, delivered against a backdrop of high inflation and signs of impending monetary policy tightening.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60,845.95, up by 24.33 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 60449.68 and 61404.99. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.35%, while Small cap index was down by 1.38%.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.44% and Metal was up by 0.27%, while Consumer Discretionary down by 1.68%, Utilities down by 1.65%, Auto down by 1.45%, Power down by 1.44% and Realty was down by 1.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 10.85%, Axis Bank up by 3.73%, SBI up by 1.33%, Tata Steel up by 0.89% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.46%, Asian Paints down by 2.32%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.14%, HCL Tech down by 2.09% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.76% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, in a bid to ease the rollout of communications networks, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has notified an amendment in rules where it has fixed a nominal one-time fee for overground cables at Rs 1,000 per kilometer. It has also waived off all other fees other than administrative fee and restoration charges for establishing, maintaining, working, repairing, transferring or shifting the underground and overground telegraph infrastructure. Further, DoT has also simplified documentation for laying overground telecom cables. These amendments will ease Right of Way Related permission procedures for establishment and augmentation of Digital Communications Infrastructure across the country.
The Central Government has notified the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on October 21, 2021 to incorporate the provisions related to nominal one-time compensation and uniform procedure for establishment of Overground Telegraph Line in the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016.
Meanwhile, Industry body Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) stated that optical fibre is a fundamental and structural part of both mobile and fixed broadband networks, and faster rollout of fibre is important for backhauling a large amount of data at high throughput, improving reliability, and reducing latency.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18098.80, down by 16.10 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 17968.50 and 18241.40. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 10.87%, Axis Bank up by 3.88%, ONGC up by 3.15%, SBI up by 1.30% and Cipla up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.46%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.37%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.32%, SBI Life down by 2.29% and HCL Tech down by 2.07% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite gained 27.26 points or 0.76% to 3,609.86, KOSPI rose 14.38 points or 0.48% to 3,020.54, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 5.50 points or 0.03% to 16,894.24 and Hang Seng was up by 5.10 points or 0.02% to 26,132.03. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 2.03 points or 0.06% to 3,203.11, Jakarta Composite lost 18.04 points or 0.27% to 6,625.70 and Nikkei 225 was down by 204.44 points or 0.71% to 28,600.41.
European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 35.83 points or 0.5% to 7,240.38 and Germany’s DAX was up by 23.72 points or 0.15% to 15,566.70. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 5.68 points or 0.08% to 6,728.01.
