Sensex, Nifty stage recovery in early afternoon deals

Staging a sharp recovery, Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their neutral lines during early afternoon deals, aided by heavy buying at Metal and Realty counters, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders were getting relief, amid a private report stating that India has emerged as the third most-improving geography in terms of business environment. However, some anxiety was witnessed among traders, amid reports that overseas investors are cutting their holdings of Indian bonds at the fastest pace since at least June, as rising US yields damp the appeal of the Asian nation’s fixed-income securities.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the total value of core machine orders in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on month in September, coming in at 852.0 billion yen. That missed forecasts for an increase of 1.4 percent following the 1.9 percent contraction in August. On a yearly basis, core machine orders fell 4.8 percent after slumping 3.4 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77546.05, down by 34.26 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 76965.06 and 77886.97. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.42%, Realty up by 1.53%, Basic Materials up by 1.25%, Auto up by 1.24% and Capital Goods up by 0.66%, while IT down by 2.03%, TECK down by 1.72%, Oil & Gas down by 0.93%, Energy down by 0.52% and Utilities down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.75%, JSW Steel up by 1.68% and HDFC Bank up by 1.23%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.73%, Infosys down by 2.56%, NTPC down by 1.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.62% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has said that automobile retail sales in India rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 42,88,248 units in the 42-day-long festive period this year. The overall automotive registrations in the festive period of the last year stood at 38,37,040 units.

FADA said passenger vehicle retail increased by 7 per cent to 6,03,009 units in the festive period this year against 5,63,059 units in the same period last year. Two-wheeler registrations increased 14 per cent year-on-year to 33,11,325 units in the 42-day period this year compared to 29,10,141 units last year. 

On the other hand, it said three-wheeler sales increased 7 per cent to 1,59,960 units in the festive period this year. However, tractor sales declined 2 per cent year-on-year to 85,216 units from 86,640 units in the year-ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23534.20, up by 1.50 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 23350.40 and 23606.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.49%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.78%, Tata Steel up by 3.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.88% and Coal India up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.93%, TCS down by 2.74%, Infosys down by 2.54%, Trent down by 1.86% and NTPC down by 1.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite plunged 18.28 points or 0.26% to 7,142.98, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.58 points or 0.41% to 3,317.15, Straits Times fell 6.01 points or 0.16% to 3,738.69, Nikkei 225 slipped 422.06 points or 1.1% to 38,220.85 and Taiwan Weighted lost 196.23 points or 0.87% to 22,546.54, while KOSPI increased 52.21 points or 2.11% to 2,469.07 and Hang Seng advanced 130.26 points or 0.67% to 19,556.60.