Indian equities extend opening gains

Indian equity indices made flat-to-positive start on F&O expiry week tracking gains in Asian peers. Soon, markets gained momentum and extended their gains and are trading over half a percent higher in early deals on Monday. All the sector indices are trading in green with Utilities, Power and Industrials leading the gainers. Initially, there was some cautiousness as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) foreign exchange reserves declined for the first time in five weeks to $563.50 billion in the week ended December 16. Though, sentiments got boost as noting that the achievement of $5 trillion economy is a short term aspirational goal, former RBI Governor C Rangarajan said even after that India will still be known as middle income country with per capita income $3472. Adding more optimism, a report stated that foreign investors have infused a net Rs 11,557 crore in Indian equities in December so far despite a market correction and increasing concerns over re-emergence of COVID in China and some other parts of the world.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher in thin trade as Markets in Singapore and Hong Kong are closed on account of Christmas. Investors remained optimistic as China reported no COVID deaths on the mainland for the five days through Saturday despite a record surge of cases nationwide. Back home, gems and jewellery industry stocks were in focus with report that India's gems and jewellery industry has achieved its annual export target of $48 billion till the last quarter of the current financial year. In stock specific development, Tata Motors gained after its subsidiary TML CV Mobility Solutions signed a contract for the operation of 1,500 electric buses in New Delhi.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60279.15, up by 433.86 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 59754.10 and 60344.76. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.27%, while Small cap index was up by 1.94%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.06%, Power up by 1.97%, Industrials up by 1.66%, PSU up by 1.63%, Realty up by 1.61%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%, Tata Motors up by 1.56%, Indusind Bank up by 1.47% and Tata Steel up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.28% was the sole loser.

Meanwhile, former RBI Governor C Rangarajan has noted that the India achieving $5 trillion economy is a short term aspirational goal, and said even after that India will still be known as middle income country with per capita income $3472. He further said in order to reach the level of an upper middle-income country, it will take another two years and to be classified as a developed country, the per capita income will have to be at a minimum of $13,205 and that will take more than two decades of strong growth of between 8 to 9 per cent to achieve it.

He said at aggregate output level, India is the fifth largest economy in the world now. That by itself is an impressive achievement. But in terms of per capita income, India's rank according to IMF is 142 out of 197 countries. The immediate focus of policymakers must be to raise the growth rate of the economy. Achievement of a $5 trillion economy is a good short term aspirational goal.

He also noted that this will take a minimum five years of sustained growth of 9 per cent. Even then, at the end of it, India's per capita income will be only $3472 and we will still be classified as a lower middle income country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17938.80, up by 132.00 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 17774.25 and 17956.70. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.55%, Hindalco up by 2.11%, Coal India up by 1.74%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.66% and Eicher Motors up by 1.65%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.11%, Sun Pharma down by 0.62% and Cipla down by 0.54% were the few losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 156.11 points or 0.60% to 26,391.36, Taiwan Weighted rose 22.40 points or 0.16% to 14,294.03, KOSPI advanced 5.59 points or 0.24% to 2,319.28, Jakarta Composite added 3.47 points or 0.05% to 6,804.14 and Shanghai Composite was up by 21.67 points or 0.71% to 3,067.54.