Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s gains with positive start on Thursday taking cues from their Asian peers. markets are trading higher with gains of around one third of a percent each in early deals on the back of a strong set of corporate numbers coupled with board based buying in Metal, Auto and Basic Materials counters. Sentiments got a boost with a report that Roche India announced that the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) has provided an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for its antibody cocktail Casirivimab and Imdevimab in India to treat COVID-19 patients. Traders also took note of report that Biden administration announced support for waiving intellectual patent protections for coronavirus vaccines. However, the addition of another 412,618 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours capped the upside. With this, the cumulative caseload has surged past 21 million, Worldometer showed. Adding some pessimism, principal scientific advisor K Vijayaraghavan said the third phase of the pandemic is inevitable given the high level of circulating virus, without giving a timeframe.
On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading higher as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen eased market concerns of a rate hike after she clarified that she was neither predicting nor recommending a rate increase. Though, gains were muted as concerns remain about the continuing surge in daily coronavirus cases in most markets in the region and the related restrictions or lockdown in several areas restricting economic activity.
Back home, aviation stocks were in focus as rating agency Icra estimates 29 per cent sequential decline in domestic air traffic in April as the second wave of Covid-19 disrupted air travel. It said in April domestic airlines flew 5.5-5.6 million passengers compared to 7.8 million passengers in March. In scrip specific development, IDBI Bank jumped after the government approved the strategic divestment and transfer of management control in the bank.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48852.55, up by 175.00 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 48690.23 and 48898.68. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.52%, while Small cap index was up by 0.44%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.99%, Auto up by 1.62%, Basic Materials up by 1.38%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.77%, while IT down by 0.22%, TECK down by 0.14% were the only losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.48%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.72%, ITC up by 1.66%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.54% and HDFC up by 1.45%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.61%, Power Grid down by 0.50%, Indusind Bank down by 0.49%, Asian Paints down by 0.39% and TCS down by 0.37% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, industry chamber PHDCCI said imposition of partial lockdowns and curfews in many parts of the country, due to re-emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, has created incipient signs of economic slowdown in the coming months. It also said that the strong growth of GST collections may partly be attributed to the significant acceleration in input costs vis-a-vis increase in commodity prices.
It added that the second wave of COVID-19 has struck like a storm throughout the country and the coronavirus has entered every household and is affecting the lives of everyone. Further, it said there is a need to fuel the drivers of household consumption and private investments to enhance aggregate demand in the economy with calibrated and well-timed steps. It said ‘we request an adequate stimulus to support the economy, trade, and industry in this extremely difficult time.’
Besides, on the announcements of the RBI, it said the calibrated, sequenced, and ‘welltimed’ measures announced by the central bank are highly encouraging as these measures will provide liquidity, bring down the cost of capital and mitigate the daunting impact of the second wave of pandemic COVID-19. These measures will support the small businesses, individual borrowers, and the healthcare system in the country.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14672.30, up by 54.45 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 14636.20 and 14697.45. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 4.47%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.50%, JSW Steel up by 2.47%, Eicher Motors up by 2.22% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.04%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.10%, Power Grid down by 0.78%, Indusind Bank down by 0.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.53% and SBI down by 0.51% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 509.98 points or 1.77% to 29,322.61, Straits Times rose 8.29 points or 0.26% to 3,161.88, Hang Seng added 48.91 points or 0.17% to 28,466.89, Taiwan Weighted gained 15.13 points or 0.09% to 16,858.57 and KOSPI advanced 9.28 points or 0.29% to 3,156.65. On the other hand Jakarta Composite fell 10.33 points or 0.17% to 5,965.58 and Shanghai Composite was down by 7.74 points or 0.22% to 3,439.12.