Key gauges continue to trade with marginal gains

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade with marginal gains in morning deals, tracking gains in index-heavyweights Indusind Bank, Dr. Reddy's Lab and Sun Pharma. Sentiments remained positive as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) report stated that non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are expected to remain buoyant going ahead, helped by the revival in the economy and increased pace of vaccinations. Some support also came with stock exchanged data showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 207.31 crore on Tuesday. However, gains remain capped as caution prevailed among investors with the finance ministry’s report stated that the government's total liabilities (including liabilities under the 'Public Account') stood at Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the September quarter (Q2FY22), up 3.97 per cent from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Covid-19 developments remained in focus after the government approved two more vaccines, as well as Merck's Covid-19 pill for restricted use.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, amid lingering concerns about the impact of the coronavirus Omicron variant on the economic recovery. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to textiles sector remained in watch as the government issued the operational guidelines for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the textiles sector with an approved outlay of Rs 10,683 crore, in order to promote production of MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles in the country.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57972.01, up by 74.53 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 57721.47 and 58097.07. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.00%, Capital Goods up by 0.45%, Industrials up by 0.28%, Realty up by 0.27% and IT up by 0.26%, while Metal down by 1.58%, Basic Materials down by 0.54%, PSU down by 0.48%, Utilities down by 0.40% and Power down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.56%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.49%, Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, ICICI Bank up by 0.74% and Titan Company up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.57%, ITC down by 0.75%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.51%, HDFC Bank down by 0.44% and SBI down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to promote production of MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles in the country, the government has issued the operational guidelines for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the textiles sector with an approved outlay of Rs 10,683 crore. An Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) chaired by the Cabinet Secretary will monitor the progress of the scheme and take appropriate action to ensure that the expenditure is within the prescribed outlay. The EGoS is also empowered to make any changes in the modalities of the scheme and address any issue related to genuine hardship that may arise during the course of implementation.

As per the prescribed norms, the scheme is in operation from September 24, 2021 to March 31, 2030 and the incentive under the scheme will be payable for a period of 5 years only. Any company/firm/LLP/trust willing to create a separate manufacturing firm under the Companies Act 2013, and invest a minimum Rs 300 crore, excluding land and administrative building cost, to manufacture notified products will be eligible to get the incentive when they achieve a minimum of Rs 600 crore turnover by the first performance year.

Under the scheme, FY 2024-25 will be considered as the first performance year with a minimum prescribed turnover of Rs 600 crore, according to the guidelines issued by the textiles ministry. Also any company/firm/LLP/trust willing to create separate a manufacturing company under the Companies Act 2013, and invest a minimum Rs 100 crore, excluding land and administrative building cost, to manufacture notified products will be eligible to get incentive when they achieve a minimum of Rs 200 crore turnover by the first performance year. The ministry will accept online applications under the scheme from January 1, 2022, through the PLI portal. The application window will remain open till January 31, 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17250.10, up by 16.85 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17180.95 and 17285.95. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 1.60%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.56%, Sun Pharma up by 1.21%, Divi's Lab up by 1.05% and ICICI Bank up by 0.90%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.83%, Tata Steel down by 1.73%, Hindalco down by 1.28%, Coal India down by 1.28% and ONGC down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 219.89 points or 0.76% to 28,849.27, Hang Seng decreased 204.77 points or 0.88% to 23,075.79, Shanghai Composite declined 28.57 points or 0.79% to 3,601.54, KOSPI fell 24.61 points or 0.81% to 2,995.63 and Jakarta Composite lost 7.72 points or 0.12% to 6,590.62.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 7.35 points or 0.23% to 3,135.76 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 51.37 points or 0.28% to 18,248.18.