Key gauges trade flat; Nifty holds 17,400 mark

Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat in late morning deals with frontline gauges trading near neutral lines after witnessing volatility in early deals, as investors remained on sidelines awaiting information about the heavily mutated coronavirus variant and gauge how badly it could damage the global recovery. Traders were getting some support with report that activity in India's dominant services sector continued to grow at a robust pace last month supported by a strong recovery in domestic demand, but elevated price pressures remained a major concern. The Services Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, eased to 58.1 in November from 58.4 in October. Market participants also got some relief with report that bank credit rose by 6.97 per cent in 12 months ended November 19, 2021. However, traders remained on edge amid report that India’s trade deficit surged to a record high of $23.3 billion in November as imports of crude oil, coal and gold shot up, negating the near 27% jump recorded in exports.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58438.09, down by 23.20 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 58269.62 and 58757.09. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.78%, while Small cap index was up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.42%, Realty up by 1.42%, Basic Materials up by 1.22%, Industrials up by 1.11% and Metal up by 0.89%, while Telecom down by 0.59%, Energy down by 0.58%, Healthcare down by 0.40% and FMCG down by 0.20% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.57%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.38%, Tata Steel up by 1.20%, Indusind Bank up by 1.02% and Axis Bank up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.50%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.34%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.30%, Sun Pharma down by 0.99% and ITC down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has extended the timeline for the implementation of Smart Cities Mission to June 2023 due to the Covid pandemic and other reasons. According to an earlier deadline, the cities were expected to complete their projects within five years of being selected under the Smart Cities Mission. All the 100 smart cities selected under the mission will now have to complete their projects by June 2023.

100 smart cities had been selected through four rounds of competition from January 2016 to June 2018. The ministry had launched the Smart Cities Mission on June 25, 2015. In the past, the government has come under criticism from the opposition over the implementation of the smart cities mission, one of the flagship programmes of the BJP government. According to the ministry, the objective of the Smart Cities Mission is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to their citizens and a clean and sustainable environment through the application of smart solutions.

Recently, the Ministry had said that as of November 12, 2021, these Smart Cities have tendered out 6,452 projects worth Rs 1,84,998 crore. Out of these, work orders have been issued in 5,809 projects worth Rs 1,56,571 crore and 3,131 of those projects worth Rs 53,175 crore have been completed. Till the same period, the Central government has released Rs 27,235 crore to states and Union territories for their smart cities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17411.20, up by 9.55 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 17351.60 and 17489.80. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.13%, BPCL up by 2.09%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.60%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.52% and Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.59%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.39%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.17%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.15% and Sun Pharma down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets traded mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 276.20 points or 1.00% to 28,029.57, Straits Times rose 13.54 points or 0.44% to 3,105.65, KOSPI advanced 24.95 points or 0.85% to 2,970.22 and Shanghai Composite was up by 32.44 points or 0.91% to 3,606.28. On the other hand, Hang Seng fell 50.35 points or 0.21% to 23,738.58, Taiwan Weighted declined 27.74 points or 0.16% to 17,697.14 and Jakarta Composite lost 29.98 points or 0.46% to 6,553.84.