Bourses trade above neutral line in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets maintained their trade above neutral line in late afternoon session. Buying in Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and Maruti Suzuki stocks helped the markets to maintain gains. Traders took note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a pre-budget stakeholder consultation with BJP leaders as well as professionals, business leaders, academicians and economists associated with the party. In scrip specific development, shares of companies like Tata Steel Long Products and KPI Global Infra are in focus as they will announce their December quarter result today. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as Covid-19 worries and concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the near future to tackle inflation offset better than expected Chinese GDP data. European markets were trading higher with deal talks related to British consumer companies boosting the bluechip FTSE 100, while shares in Credit Suisse slipped after the Swiss bank's chairman quit following an internal probe into his personal conduct.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61307.95, up by 84.92 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 61107.60 and 61385.48. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.03%, Utilities up by 1.50%, Power up by 1.40%, Realty up by 1.27% and Metal was up by 0.96%, while Healthcare down by 0.60% and Bankex was down by 0.31% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, Tata Steel up by 2.18%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.14%, TCS up by 1.38% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.34%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 5.84%, Nestle down by 1.42%, Axis Bank down by 1.22%, HDFC Bank down by 1.13% and Asian Paints down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, remaining positive about NBFCs outlook, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) are much better placed to handle the possible impact of the ongoing third covid wave.

According to the report, while the third wave is more rapidly spreading, the need for hospitalisation and casualty has been lower while the healthcare infrastructure seems to be prepared to cope with the rising numbers. The probability of a severe nationwide lockdown, at the moment, seems low with restrictions being imposed at the regional level. In absence of any restrictions, the impact on the cash flow of NBFC borrowers may remain modest. Furthermore, a large proportion of the weaker borrowers of NBFCs would have been filtered out in the first two waves.

Ind-Ra further underlined initiatives taken by NBFCs during previous lockdowns. It said that non-banks navigated the periods of business disruptions during the first two covid waves by tweaking processes, digitising certain operations, restricting operating hours and physical movement, slowing down disbursements, focusing on collections and vaccinating their staff.

The rating agency also said that NBFCs also reached out to their customers and offered relief measures with the help of the moratorium scheme applicable from March to August 2020 and restructuring packages announced by the Reserve Bank of India in August 2020 and May 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18307.35, up by 51.60 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 18228.75 and 18313.85. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 5.22%, Tata Motors up by 3.10%, ONGC up by 2.95%, JSW Steel up by 2.77% and Tata Steel up by 2.52%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 5.85%, Britannia down by 1.83%, Axis Bank down by 1.21%, Nestle down by 1.19% and HDFC Bank down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 209.24 points or 0.74% to 28,333.52, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 122.11 points or 0.66% to 18,525.44, Shanghai Composite gained 20.41 points or 0.58% to 3,541.67 and Straits Times was up by 5.05 points or 0.15% to 3,287.02. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 31.82 points or 1.09% to 2,890.10, Jakarta Composite lost 48.35 points or 0.72% to 6,645.05 and Hang Seng was down by 165.29 points or 0.68% to 24,218.03.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 46.62 points or 0.62% to 7,589.57, France’s CAC increased 32.95 points or 0.46% to 7,175.95 and Germany’s DAX was up by 43.59 points or 0.27% to 15,926.83.