Indices trade flat with positive bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday tracking gains in global peers. But, soon markets trimmed their gains and are trading flat with positive bias in early deals on account of buying in Auto, PSU and FMCG counters, whereas selling in IT and TECK stocks dragged markets down. Initially, some support came in with report that India Inc expects private capex to gain further momentum in the short to medium term, as it sees green shoots of revival in sectors like real estate, construction, logistics and chemicals, among others. However, some cautiousness came with a private report that the Reserve Bank of India’s curb on securitising loans having residual maturity of less than 365 days may hit the sale of short-term advances like micro-finance, personal loans and gold loans for a while.

Most of the Asian markets are trading higher as the latest data showed Chinese consumer and producer inflation eased further in November due to COVID-related disruptions. China's consumer price index dropped to 1.6 percent year-on-year from 2.1 percent in the previous month - matching estimates. Back home, power stocks were in focus as power deficit or gap between electricity required and supplied has fallen from two per cent in April this year to 0.1 per cent. In stock specific development, Paytm surged after the company said its board will meet on December 13, Tuesday to consider a share buyback proposal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62582.23, up by 11.55 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 62554.97 and 62735.42. 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 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.66%, PSU up by 0.63%, FMCG up by 0.61%, Oil & Gas up by 0.53%, Industrials up by 0.47%, while IT down by 0.98%, TECK down by 0.89% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.22%, Indusind Bank up by 1.21%, Tata Steel up by 0.89%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.72% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.69%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 4.99%, Infosys down by 1.05%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.89%, Wipro down by 0.52% and Axis Bank down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said that India will have to face global competition effectively to achieve the goal of becoming a prosperous and developed nation. On the way forward for the Indian economy and the steps being taken to realize the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed nation in Amrit Kaal, he remarked that 'the pandemic alerted us about our dependence on supply chains, particularly from geographies that are not friendly or transparent'.

He said ‘It opened our eyes on a number of risk factors in our trading system, our manufacturing and technology gaps that existed in India. This insight has helped us to move forward on the path to Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and added that India will have to engage much more with the global economy if we want to develop fast. He also said ‘to achieve the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat, we have to engage much more, not less, with the world, he said. We are not looking for closing our doors - but we are looking to opening our doors wider to global competition and it is the only way that the country will innovate and grow’.

Regarding the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, he said that it is designed to support the industry where it is needed in the initial years. He highlighted that ‘government plays a role of handholding support system through this scheme’. He said ‘PLI gives the kickstart, but then the industry has to move on its own strength’. The Minister informed that all the decisions linked to this scheme are taken by a committee that comprises all stakeholders from the industry itself.

Goyal said that the government is trying to rejuvenate the textile and cotton sector and is working actively to revitalize this industry, from farmers to exports - as PM articulated - from farms to fiber to fabrics to fashion to foreign. He said ‘Similarly, National Technical Textile Mission is working to promote innovation and production. We have over 200 projects where academia, industry and government is working in tandem'.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18616.05, up by 6.70 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 18613.40 and 18664.70. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &Special up by 1.87%, Indusind Bank up by 1.60%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.40%, Sun Pharma up by 0.99% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.82%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 5.11%, Infosys down by 1.10%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.95%, UPL down by 0.49% and Wipro down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 342.78 points or 1.24% to 27,917.21, Straits Times added 3.08 points or 0.10% to 3,239.16, Hang Seng jumped 298.03 points or 1.53% to 19,748.26, Taiwan Weighted rose 151.98 points or 1.04% to 14,705.02, KOSPI advanced 14.92 points or 0.63% to 2,386.00 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.67 points or 0.08% to 3,200.02, while Jakarta Composite was down by 72.01 points or 1.06% to 6,732.22.