Sensex, Nifty stage some recovery

Indian equity benchmarks staged some recovery in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty off day’s low points, supported by positive cues from other Asian markets along with buying at Telecom and Realty counters. Some support came after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said the growth momentum in the country continues to be strong, and the official data for GDP expansion in the second quarter will surprise on the upside. Das said inflation is the first priority for the RBI at the moment. However, indices remained in red, as traders were cautious with the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showing that the central government’s fiscal deficit touched 39.3 per cent of the full year target in the first half of the current financial year, slightly higher than 37.3 per cent recorded in the year-ago period.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after China's manufacturing activity contracted in October as firms reported a fresh decline in production amid weak foreign demand. The survey results released by S&P Global showed that the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 49.5 in October from 50.6 in the previous month. The sector contracted for the first time since July.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63802.33, down by 72.60 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 63647.75 and 63896.05. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.38%, Realty up by 1.30%, Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, Energy up by 0.46% and Consumer Durables up by 0.32%, while Metal down by 0.81%, Power down by 0.44%, Basic Materials down by 0.42%, Utilities down by 0.36% and Bankex down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.16%, Sun Pharma up by 0.81%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.67%, SBI up by 0.65% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 1.45%, Nestle down by 1.45%, JSW Steel down by 0.86% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) has showed that the central government’s fiscal deficit touched 39.3 per cent of the full year target in the first half of the current financial year, slightly higher than 37.3 per cent recorded in the yearago period. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit, or the gap between expenditure and revenue, worked out to Rs 7.02 lakh crore at the end of September. In the Union budget, the government projected to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the 202324 financial year. The fiscal deficit was 6.4 per cent of GDP in 202223, against the earlier estimate of 6.71 per cent.

According to the data, the tax revenue was at Rs 11.60 lakh crore or 49.8 per cent of the annual target. During AprilSeptember 202223, the net tax collection was 52.3 per cent of that year’s annual budget estimate (BE). The Centre’s total expenditure was Rs 21.19 lakh crore, or 47.1 per cent of BE for 202324, marginally higher than 46.2 per cent of BE for 202223.

It further showed that the government of India has transferred Rs 4,55,444 crore to state governments as devolution of share of taxes till September, which is Rs 79,338 crore higher than the previous year. Of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 4.84 lakh crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 2.06 lakh crore towards major subsidies. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19059.00, down by 20.60 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 19019.65 and 19096.05. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.30%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.79%, Reliance Industries up by 1.22%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.19% and Sun Pharma up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 1.94%, Coal India down by 1.56%, Asian Paints down by 1.52%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.45% and Nestle down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 37.29 points or 0.23% to 16,038.56, Straits Times rose 9.28 points or 0.3% to 3,077.02, Shanghai Composite strengthened 5.75 points or 0.19% to 3,024.52, KOSPI increased 23.57 points or 1.02% to 2,301.56 and Nikkei 225 surged 742.8 points or 2.35% to 31,601.65, while Hang Seng declined 25.47 points or 0.15% to 17,087.01 and Jakarta Composite plunged 87.41 points or 1.31% to 6,664.80