Indian equity benchmarks were off day's low in morning session as Utilities, Telecom, FMCG and Power stocks recovered and turned positive. Traders took some support with Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur’s statement that steps taken by the government to deal with COVID-19 pandemic are resulting in 'V-shaped' economic recovery and the country is likely to witness double digit growth in 2021-22. Some support also came with Union minister Nitin Gadkari stating that the vehicle scrapping policy will be a ‘win-win’ policy that will help improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. The Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister said the policy will also lead to an increase in the country's automobile industry turnover to Rs 10 lakh crore from the current Rs 4.5 lakh crore. However, losses in Realty, Auto and Capital Goods stocks kept the indices in the red. Meanwhile, the cumulative sanctioned and disbursed amounts under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to MSMEs stood at Rs 2.46 lakh crore and Rs 1.81 lakh crore, respectively, as on February 28, 2021.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street on another spike in treasury yields. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related Diamond & Jewellery sector remained in focus with India Ratings’ report stated that despite the steep fall in gold prices and the resultant fall in realisations, retail jewellers are likely to sustain the ongoing demand recovery into the next fiscal with a 30-35 percent spike in demand.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49166.67, down by 49.85 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 48586.93 and 49203.05. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.44%, while Small cap index was down by 0.89%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.80%, Telecom up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.65%, Power up by 0.51% and Bankex up by 0.16%, while Realty down by 1.43%, Auto down by 1.22%, Capital Goods down by 1.18%, Industrials down by 1.12% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.83% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.36%, Power Grid up by 2.22%, ITC up by 1.63%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.45% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.28%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.17%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.71%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.58% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.37% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said that India’s economy, estimated to contract by 6.9 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, is forecasted to record a stronger recovery in 2021 and grow by 5 percent. It also said the country's current fiscal year budget points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment.
The UN agency has stated that India’s growth performance in 2020 fell below its mid-2020 expectations. It said actual fiscal stimulus fell short of initial announcements that suggested a large increase of public spending for pandemic relief. It also noted that the relief measures adopted by India were not only much smaller in scale, but also centred on easing supply-side constraints and providing liquidity support rather than aggregate demand support. Moreover, it said restrictions to people’s movement not only severely affected incomes and consumption, they also proved largely unsuccessful in containing the spread of the virus. As a result, the fall in economic activity proved to be larger than we had envisaged in mid-2020.
It further said the budget for the fiscal year from April 2021 to March 2022 also points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment (particularly in transport infrastructure) for the coming fiscal year. It added that an anticipated recovery in global demand will also help buoy the export sector through 2021.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14525.70, down by 32.15 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 14350.10 and 14542.45. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.31%, Power Grid up by 2.24%, ITC up by 1.56%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.54% and HCL Technologies up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.57%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.23%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.14%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.80% and Hindalco down by 1.79% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 454.89 points or 1.55% to 28,950.83, Nikkei 225 slipped 363.99 points or 1.2% to 29,852.76, Taiwan Weighted dropped 179.08 points or 1.1% to 16,108.76, Shanghai Composite declined 36.16 points or 1.04% to 3,426.91, Jakarta Composite lost 25.27 points or 0.4% to 6,322.56 and KOSPI fell 18.08 points or 0.59% to 3,047.93.
On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 10.13 points or 0.32% to 3,147.79.