Benchmarks trade firm in early deals; Nifty above 16,850 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their previous session’s gaining momentum with positive start on Wednesday mirroring firm global cues. Markets are trading firm with notable gains of around 0.75% each in early deals on account of buying in Auto, Realty and Industrials stocks. Sensex and Nifty are trading above their crucial 56,700 and 16,850 levels, respectively. Some support came in as the Finance Ministry in a report said the government has initiated various measures to provide relief and financial support to various sectors of the Covid-19 hit economy, at the same time, fiscal consolidation is also under focus. Traders took note of newly-elected president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) Sanjiv Mehta’s statement that high inflation has impacted consumption and market volumes have gone down, especially in the rural economy, but it is likely to start easing from mid-2022 as it is largely due to supply side constraints or speculation.

On the global front, all the Asian markets are trading higher with muted gains amid renewed concerns about the Omicron Covid-19 variant's economic impact. Underlying sentiment remained somewhat supported after U.S. President Biden said it is still possible to reach a deal with Senator Joe Manchin to push the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill through Congress.

Back home, Gem, jewellery industry stocks were in focus as the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) said India’s overall gem and jewellery exports in November declined by 4.21% to Rs 17,784.92 crore ($2,384 million) compared to the same month last year due to break in manufacturing activity during Diwali. In scrip specific development, State Bank of India climbed after it acquired a minority stake in JSW Cement.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56742.19, up by 423.18 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 56547.56 and 56789.77. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.89%, while Small cap index was up by 1.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.73%, Realty up by 1.59%, Industrials up by 1.38%, Energy up by 1.38%, Metal up by 1.33%, while there were no losers on BSE sectroal front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.73%, SBI up by 2.31%, Reliance Industries up by 1.78%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.70% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.69%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.82%, Wipro down by 0.55%, Asian Paints down by 0.51%, Nestle down by 0.50% and HDFC down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to achieve a sustained growth rate of over eight per cent in the long term, newly elected Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) President Sanjiv Mehta has said that India needs to focus on ease of doing business, consistent tax policy and lower cost of capital. He also underlined the need for constant efforts to boost private investment for high economic growth over a long period of time.

He also said that the current year is expected to achieve over nine per cent economic growth as several sectors have already reached the pre-COVID-19 levels. He added that India will be close to a $3-trillion economy at the end of the current fiscal, and ‘we need long-term growth on a high base’. He further said there are positive signs in the economy as tax collections are moving up, and exports are also nearing $400 billion. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is also going up, which is a positive sign for the economy.

However, he added that the private investment is yet to pick up, and as such, the government needs to keep spending money to prop up the economy. On the possibility of Omicron impacting the economic activities, He said the spread of the new coronavirus variant is a matter of concern, and the only way to fight is through rapid vaccination. He said the government should further accelerate the vaccination drive. As regard booster doses, he added it could be considered based on the advice of experts.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16891.10, up by 120.25 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 16839.30 and 16910.35. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.88%, Indusind Bank up by 2.84%, Eicher Motors up by 2.55%, UPL up by 2.49% and SBI up by 2.29%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.73%, Wipro down by 0.67%, Asian Paints down by 0.56%, Nestle down by 0.46% and SBI Life Insurance down by 0.46% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 rose 57.44 points or 0.20% to 28,575.03, Straits Times added 2.54 points or 0.08% to 3,087.62, Hang Seng surged 107.55 points or 0.47% to 23,078.88, Taiwan Weighted increased 48.31 points or 0.27% to 17,837.58, KOSPI advanced 6.93 points or 0.23% to 2,981.96, Jakarta Composite gained 15.55 points or 0.24% to 6,569.86 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.28 points or 0.01% to 3,625.41.