Sensex, Nifty gain traction in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks gained traction in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments were positive, as eminent economist Pinaki Chakraborty said that India's macroeconomic situation is certainly better than what it was a year ago, while expressing hope that the country will be back on the path of economic growth if there is no major third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, asserting that this is an era of start-ups, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is leading the world in this field with more than 70 start-ups having crossed the valuation of USD 1 billion.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after the value of retail sales in Japan was up 0.9 percent on year in October, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Monday - coming in at 12.552 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for an annual increase of 1.1 percent following the 0.5 percent decline in September.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57580.33, up by 473.18 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 56382.93 and 57611.22. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.38%, while Small cap index was down by 1.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.20%, Metal up by 1.32%, IT up by 1.19%, TECK up by 1.17% and Healthcare up by 0.38%, while Power down by 1.53%, Utilities down by 1.47%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.85%, Realty down by 0.66% and FMCG down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 3.39%, HCL Tech up by 3.09%, Tata Steel up by 2.13%, TCS up by 2.01% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.20%, ITC down by 0.83%, Axis Bank down by 0.77%, HDFC down by 0.73% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian has said that BRICS nations need to strengthen cooperation among themselves for supporting the recovery of BRICS economies and maintaining macro-economic and financial stability while protecting against future uncertainties and risks. He also underlined the need for strengthening international cooperation and establishing a cross border regulatory mechanism for further improving the investment environment and enhancing capital flows.

CEA further said that the COVID 19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the importance of affordable and resilient social infrastructure alongside economic infrastructure. Therefore, he said there exists positive role of digital technologies such as telemedicine, eHealth initiatives, and online education in ensuring inclusive access and affordability of social services.

Subramanian further said that India has taken some very important steps which would provide important learnings for not only for BRICS nations, but also for the rest of the world. He also highlighted that India is running one of the largest renewable capacity expansion programmes in the world and is determined to achieve the target of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17142.15, up by 115.70 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 16782.40 and 17153.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.65%, Reliance Industries up by 3.11%, HCL Tech up by 2.92%, Tata Steel up by 2.10% and TCS up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.17%, ONGC down by 2.01%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.67%, UPL down by 1.64% and BPCL down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 398.45 points or 1.39% to 28,353.17, Hang Seng decreased 124.09 points or 0.52% to 23,956.43, Straits Times trembled 32.53 points or 1.03% to 3,133.74, KOSPI fell 15.70 points or 0.53% to 2,920.74, Taiwan Weighted dropped 7.88 points or 0.05% to 17,361.51 and Shanghai Composite declined 1.39 points or 0.04% to 3,562.70. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 28.59 points or 0.44% to 6,590.14.