Markets trade higher in early deals; Realty leads gainers

Indian equity benchmarks opened in green on Wednesday ahead of long weekend holiday on account of Diwali amid mixed global cues. Markets are trading higher with notable gains in early deals on account of buying in Realty, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas stocks. Investors are eyeing the Services PMI data to be out later in the day. Sentiments got a boost as Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said Indian economy is expected to grow by 10 per cent or more in the current fiscal, and 8 per cent plus in the next fiscal year. Some support also came with a private report stating that hiring activity expanded by 43 per cent year-on-year in October driven by strong demand for technology professionals. According to the report, with 2,523 job listings in October 2021, there was a 43 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth. Though, gains were limited with a report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have offloaded Rs 5,476 crore worth of shares in November already.

On the global front, Asian markets traded mostly lower as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the FOMC's monetary policy announcement later in the day. The Japanese stock market is closed on Wednesday in observance of Culture Day and will re-open on Thursday. Back home, auto stocks were in focus as automobile dealers' body FADA termed the current festive season as the worst in terms of business in a decade for its retail partners across the country. The industry body said the chip shortage situation has impacted offtake in the passenger vehicle segment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60298.41, up by 269.35 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 60193.44 and 60361.82. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.18%, Capital Goods up by 1.34%, Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, PSU up by 0.80%, Industrials up by 0.72%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.23%, FMCG down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.31%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.15%, SBI up by 0.93% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.82%, Titan Company down by 0.62%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.52%, ITC down by 0.13% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s economic growth, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that the country’s economy is likely to grow by 10 per cent or more in the current fiscal (FY22), and going forward, once Indian economy out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will grow at 8 per cent plus in the next fiscal year (FY23). He further said that seven years of the Modi government has laid a strong economic foundation for businesses to thrive in India.

Kumar said ‘According to the IMF, India will be the fastest growing major economy for the next five years. These are underestimations’. There was a hiccup (in economic growth) for two years due to COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF has projected a growth of 9.5 per cent in 2021. He noted that ‘Things are changing and people are ready to invest in India’.

The Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman said the potential rate of growth of India will move up to 8 per cent. Meanwhile, the country's economy grew by a record 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter, helped by a very weak base of last year and a sharp rebound in the manufacturing and services sectors in spite of the devastating second COVID wave.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17970.65, up by 81.70 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 17935.15 and 17988.75. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.39%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.49%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.30% and UPL up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.48%, Sun Pharma down by 1.21%, Titan Company down by 0.77%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.47% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times fell 13.86 points or 0.43% to 3,218.51, Hang Seng lost 251.53 points or 1.00% to 24,848.14, KOSPI slipped 41.05 points or 1.36% to 2,972.44 and Shanghai Composite was down by 13.17 points or 0.38% to 3,492.46. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted rose 44.92 points or 0.26% to 17,110.89 and Jakarta Composite added 8.81 points or 0.14% to 6,502.09.