Sensex, Nifty hover near neutral lines

Indian equity benchmarks were hovering near their neutral lines in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading marginally lower. Positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at Healthcare and Industrials counters helped indices to stage recovery. Some relief came after the various Ministries/ Departments of Government of India have accepted more than 10,000 claims of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under Vivad se Vishwas - I scheme aimed at providing relief to MSMEs for the COVID-19 Pandemic period. This has led to grant of more than Rs 256 crore to MSMEs and increased flow of bank credit through freeing up of guarantees. Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member Arvind Virmani has made a case for simplification of the whole system of business taxation as has been done in case of personal tax, saying faceless assessment may not work in all the cases.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as China's industrial profits rebounded in August as support measures helped to lift demand. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that industrial profits logged a double-digit growth of 17.2 percent in August, in contrast to the 6.7 percent decrease in July. However, industrial profits during January to August period declined 11.7 percent from a year ago, which was slower than the 15.5 percent decrease seen in seven months to July.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65891.36, down by 54.11 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 65549.96 and 65925.64. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.02%, Industrials up by 0.59%, Telecom up by 0.55%, Capital Goods up by 0.52% and IT up by 0.42%, while Bankex down by 0.56%, Oil & Gas down by 0.41%, Consumer Durables down by 0.25%, Utilities down by 0.11% and Power down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 0.84%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.81%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.75%, Reliance Industries up by 0.64% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.09%, ICICI Bank down by 1.01%, Tata Steel down by 0.97%, HDFC Bank down by 0.89% and Titan Company down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has said that India and the US need to strive towards a more ambitious and frictionless bilateral trade relationship. Noting that there is a need to do away with even the smallest of friction between the two countries in terms of trade, he called for a reduction of tariffs and the creation of a more predictable regulatory environment. 

Garcetti pitched for a robust agriculture trade between India and the US. He said ‘this is a great agricultural country and so is the United States. We want India to be one of our top three markets in the world. Here, the productivity in dairy and other areas has levelled off’.

The Ambassador said that both countries are now looking at partnerships in the commercial space segment. He stressed the importance of sharing technology and co-development of technologies in sectors like defence, in which India and the US already have strong ties.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19659.70, down by 5.00 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 19554.00 and 19665.25. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 1.81%, Cipla up by 1.33%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 1.25%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.21% and Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.06%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.03%, Grasim Industries down by 1.01%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.00%, Tata Steel down by 0.97% and HDFC Bank down by 0.96% were the top losers. 

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 56.85 points or 0.18% to 32,371.90, Hang Seng advanced 144.73 points or 0.83% to 17,611.63, Taiwan Weighted added 34.29 points or 0.21% to 16,310.36, KOSPI increased 2.10 points or 0.09% to 2,465.07, Jakarta Composite gained 24.73 points or 0.36% to 6,948.53 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 10.29 points or 0.33% to 3,112.56, while Straits Times fell 27.59 points or 0.86% to 3,187.48.