Indian markets maintain upward momentum

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the afternoon session, following gains in healthcare, telecom and information technology stocks. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Asian Paints, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank. Sentiment got support as National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) showed that as the second wave of Covid-19 eased off, business sentiment in the country hit an over two-year high in the September quarter (Q2) of the current financial year (FY22).  However, upside remain limited as swap rates are rising in India in a sign that traders expect the central bank to roll back monetary stimulus quicker than expected despite its reassurances.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower after Australian inflation increased, highlighting global pressure for prices to rise, while investors looked ahead to U.S. economic growth data due out this week.  On the sectoral front, oil stocks were in buzz as oil prices fell after industry data showed crude oil stockpiles rose more than expected and fuel inventories unexpectedly increased last week in the United States.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61452.95, up by 102.69 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 61315.24 and 61576.85. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.40%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.28%, Telecom up by 1.24%, IT up by 0.82%, Realty up by 0.79% and TECK was up by 0.73%, whil Metal down by 0.59%, Bankex down by 0.40%, Energy down by 0.39%, Auto down by 0.27% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.85%, Sun Pharma up by 2.82%, ICICI Bank up by 2.10%, SBI up by 1.79% and Bharti Airtel was up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 5.30%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.23%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.25%, Indusind Bank down by 1.79% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission -- N K Singh has said the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF's) decision to revise India's potential growth forecast downwards to 6 per cent citing the coronavirus pandemic is a ‘gross under estimation’ and observed that calculations of growth potential are always problematic. He mentioned ‘The issue of our medium term growth potential projected by the IMF last week by recaliberating it from 6.25 per cent to 6 per cent, in my view, is gross under estimation.’

He said India's growth is projected at 9.5 per cent in financial year 2021-22 and 8.5 per cent in FY 2022-23, reflecting base effects and strong global growth. Potential growth is the rate of growth that an economy can sustain over the medium term without generating excess inflation.

Besides, he said there was a need to raise India's tax ratio, both from macroeconomic and redistributive perspective, and also enhance fiscal space for financing public outlays. Terming the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as a path breaking reform, he said revenue data in the last few months have also suggested encouraging revenue share from the GST.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18301.25, up by 32.85 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 18258.85 and 18342.05. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 3.85%, Divi's Lab up by 3.58%, Sun Pharma up by 2.87%, ICICI Bank up by 2.03% and SBI was up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 5.25%, Bajaj Finance down by 4.45%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.19%, ONGC down by 2.12% and Indusind Bank was down by 2.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Jakarta Composite lost 0.77 points or 6664.37% to 51.50, KOSPI fell 0.71 points or 3045.83% to 21.62, Nikkei 225 slipped 0.03 points or 29056.01% to 7.77, Hang Seng decreased 1.77 points or 25795.17% to 461.05 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.13 points or 3589.86% to 40.66.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 0.24 points or 17037.37% to 40.21 and Straits Times was up by 0.56 points or 3206.06% to 18.10.