Barometer gauges maintain gains in morning session

Local equity benchmarks maintained their gains of more than half a percent in morning session, led by strong gains in index majors Titan Company, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Maruti Suzuki. Sentiments remained up-beat as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that higher tax and non-tax revenue collections this fiscal are expected to more than offset the shortfall in disinvestment revenue, leading to the fiscal deficit coming in at 6.6 per cent of GDP in FY22, or 20 basis points lower than the budgeted target. On the stock-specific front, textile stocks remained in focus as the 46th goods and services tax (GST) Council meeting will be conducted today - which is expected to take a decision on reversing the hike in rates for textile and footwear sectors. Many states have flagged higher tax rates on textile products and demanded that the rate hike be put on hold. Meanwhile, the Centre notified rules for Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District Commission, the State Commission and the National Commission) Rules, 2021. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green even as traders continue to weigh the likely impact of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus on the global economic recovery.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58216.06, up by 421.74 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 57846.52 and 58304.82. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.12%, Telecom up by 2.03%, Consumer Durables up by 2.00%, Basic Materials up by 1.64% and Auto up by 1.28%, while IT down by 0.17% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 3.36%, Axis Bank up by 1.90%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.88%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.83% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.62%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.93%, Wipro down by 0.55%, Infosys down by 0.54%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.52% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Food Secretary Sudhansu Pandey has said the government's food subsidy is expected to be a little less than Rs 4 lakh crore in the current financial year (FY22) as against Rs 5.29 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. Pandey stated about Rs 2.25 lakh crore food subsidy is estimated for procurement and distribution of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and an additional Rs 1.47 lakh crore has been incurred for implementing the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

Under NFSA, the government currently gives highly subsidised foodgrains at Rs 1-3 per kg to over 81 crore people through the public distribution system (PDS). Over and above the subsidised foodgrains, the government during the pandemic is also supplying free foodgrains to NFSA beneficiaries under the PMGKAY. This scheme has been extended multiple times and is now valid till March 2022.

Besides, he also said the year 2021 was an extraordinary year for many reasons as the government made extraordinary efforts that were unprecedented in nature amid the pandemic circumstances. One is that state-owned FCI undertook major transformation changes and there has also been 62 per cent growth in the ethanol blending program this year. Ethanol blending with petrol increased from 5 per cent to 8.1 per cent in one year, the highest ever.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17348.10, up by 144.15 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 17238.50 and 17359.30. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.68%, Titan Company up by 3.39%, Grasim Industries up by 2.32%, JSW Steel up by 2.12% and Shree Cement up by 1.99%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.85%, Infosys down by 0.57%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.36%, Wipro down by 0.33% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite gained 12.95 points or 0.36% to 3,632.14 and Hang Seng increased 285.66 points or 1.24% to 23,397.67, while Straits Times trembled 2.96 points or 0.09% to 3,123.68.