Sensex, Nifty continue to hold heads in green

Indian equity benchmarks pared some of their gains during noon deals but continued to hold their heads in green terrain. Gains got trimmed on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets along with selling in IT and TECK stocks. However, sentiments were positive, as the Government of India is taking major policy initiatives for Agriculture Startups with a latest announcement of Rs 500 crore accelerator programme and creation of a high-level steering committee among others. Some optimism came with a private report stating that freshers' hiring intentions have increased to 61 per cent for the July-December 2022 period as employers across India look to hire due to the accelerated rate of tech and digital advancements.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that China is determined to pursue reunification with Taiwan on a much faster timeline than expected. Back home, jewellery sector stocks were in watch amid reports that with the Dhanteras around the corner, the jewellery industry is cautiously optimistic about the demand, mainly due to the exceptionally high base last year, inflation worries and the overall rising cost of living. The street were seen taking a note of a finance ministry official’s statement that India would have to scale down its disinvestment target set in the Budget as the scope for minority stake sale in CPSEs has reduced and privatisation takes time to fructify.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59189.65, up by 229.05 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 59148.52 and 59399.69. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.16%, Oil & Gas up by 1.03%, Realty up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.61% and Consumer Durables up by 0.37%, while IT down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.58%, Utilities down by 0.34%, PSU down by 0.32% and Power down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.36%, HDFC up by 2.19%, Nestle up by 2.15%, Axis Bank up by 1.83% and ITC up by 1.63%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.52%, Infosys down by 1.20%, ICICI Bank down by 0.86%, HCL Tech down by 0.86% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ICRA Ratings in its latest report has said that after rising steeply for a month, the cost of market borrowing for states declined sharply on October 18, 2022 with the weighted average cut-off falling by 11 basis points (bps) to 7.72 per cent from 7.83 per cent last week. The cost declined despite a rise in the weighted average tenor to 12 years from 11 years last week.

According to the report, the 10-year benchmark G-sec yield remaining stable at 7.43 per cent in the auction on this Tuesday from last Tuesday. Nine states raised Rs 16,900 crore through state government securities (SGS) on October 18 -- 10 per cent lower than the Rs 18,700 crore indicated for this week in the third quarter auction calendar. So far this year, bond sales by states are down 8 per cent over the year-ago period.

The agency said the weighted average cut-off of 10-year state bonds also declined by 10 bps to 7.73 per cent from 7.83 per cent, thus narrowing the spread with G-sec yield to 30 bps from 41 bps, respectively. States are drawing down lower from the market in spite of Reserve Bank data on the ways and means advances and the overdraft facilities for August indicating a sequential and a on-year decline in the usage. This, the agency feels, could be on account of the comfortable cash flow position of states in August benefitting from the rise in the taxes devolved by the Centre, which doubled to Rs 1.2 lakh crore in August from Rs 0.6 lakh crore in the previous month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17552.60, up by 65.65 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 17535.75 and 17607.60. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.32%, HDFC up by 2.29%, Nestle up by 2.13%, Axis Bank up by 1.87% and ITC up by 1.69%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.45%, Coal India down by 1.14%, Infosys down by 1.06%, HCL Tech down by 0.79% and ICICI Bank down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite declined 32.63 points or 1.06% to 3,048.33, KOSPI fell 12.51 points or 0.56% to 2,237.44, Hang Seng decreased 317.21 points or 1.88% to 16,597.37 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 147.92 points or 1.13% to 12,976.76, while Straits Times advanced 5.42 points or 0.18% to 3,031.30, Jakarta Composite gained 34.66 points or 0.51% to 6,869.15 and Nikkei 225 was up by 101.24 points or 0.37% to 27,257.38.