Indices pare losses to trade near neutral lines

Indian equity benchmarks displayed splendid recovery to pare almost all of their initial losses on the back of fresh buying in select heavyweights like Bharti Airtel, Reliance and ITC. Buying in energy and oil& gas counters too supported the recovery. Though, key gauges continued to trade tad below neutral lines as weak cues from other Asian markets coupled with concerns over inflation kept market participants on sidelines. Domestic investors also remain concerned over foreign outflows coupled with the dollar remaining steady against a basket of six major world currencies.

On the global front, European counters were trading mostly in red as investors remain concerned over soaring inflation in China and Germany. Inflation in Germany picked up to 4.5% in October, rising from 4.1% in September, but slightly below August’s 4.6% rate. Back home, Credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in the second edition of its quarterly Commercial Paper (CP) Market Dossier ‘CP Market 2QFY22’ has said that the market has shown resilience during 2QFY22 amid the uncertain period of the second wave of COVID-19. Meanwhile, primary market was buzzing with three IPOs running simultaneously.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60399.94, down by 33.51 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 59967.45 and 60506.50. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.34%, while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.08%, Energy up by 1.03%, Oil & Gas up by 0.90%, Auto up by 0.56%, Healthcare up by 0.33%, while Metal down by 2.01%, Realty down by 1.24%, Basic Materials down by 0.80%, Bankex down by 0.73%, Consumer Durables down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.04%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.78%, Sun Pharma up by 1.55%, ITC up by 1.27% and Reliance Industries up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.99%, Tata Steel down by 2.96%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.17%, Asian Paints down by 1.13% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in the second edition of its quarterly Commercial Paper (CP) Market Dossier ‘CP Market 2QFY22’ has said that the market has shown resilience during 2QFY22 amid the uncertain period of the second wave of COVID-19. The overall rising number of issuances in the primary CP market coupled with healthy volumes has been the trend. Moreover, it said that the rising number of issuers in a month suggests broadening of the market; although, there is a concentration risk pertaining to the tenor of borrowings.

As per the report, the short-term financing market has been showing strong momentum backed by conducive financing conditions.  Moreover, a resilient corporate performance amid the fading fear of pandemic has aided the overall sentiments in the money market. As a result of the favourable environment and assurance from the RBI regarding loose policy stance, the money market rates have remained historically low, although modest hardening was visible in October 2021.

Ind-Ra further noted that corporates are emerging from the second wave of Covid-19 and are tapping the CP market positively in anticipation of higher working capital requirement, owing to the high commodity prices coupled with a recovery in capacity utilization.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18008.50, down by 35.75 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 17915.00 and 18061.25. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.01%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.79%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.57%, Britannia Industries up by 2.13% and Sun Pharma up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.52%, Tata Steel down by 3.05%, Hindalco down by 2.60%, JSW Steel down by 2.45% and Coal India down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 178.68 points or 0.61% to 29,106.78, Straits Times fell 14.95 points or 0.46% to 3,228.47, KOSPI plunged 32.29 points or 1.09% to 2,930.17 and Shanghai Composite was down by 14.54 points or 0.41% to 3,492.46. On the other hand, Hang Seng rose 183.01 points or 0.74% to 24,996.14, Taiwan Weighted added 18.29 points or 0.10% to 17,559.65 and Jakarta Composite gained 13.21 points or 0.20% to 6,683.14.

European markets were trading mostly in red, Germany’s DAX fell 32.57 points or 0.20% to 16,007.90 and France’s CAC was down by 18.56 points or 0.26% to 7,024.71, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 23.22 points or 0.32% to 7,297.26.