Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday tracking broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. Markets extended their opening gains and are trading in fine-fettle in early deals on account of buying in almost all the sector indices except Metal. Sentiments got a boost as former Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are sound as the real GDP in Q3 and Q4 of FY21 already crossed the pre-pandemic level. Adding more optimism, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India, Piyush Goyal said at a time when the whole world is coming together to recover from the pandemic and bring growth back on track, a resurgent India is ready to take on the responsibility of being the frontrunner in this revival process. Though, market participants overlooked report that trade deficit spiked to almost $23 billion in September from $13.8 billion in the previous month, as imports surged at a much faster pace than exports, driven by elevated global crude oil prices and massive purchases of gold in the build-up to the festival season.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed amid positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with traders indulging in bargain hunting and crude oil prices providing support, even as they continue to express concerns that the coronavirus situation in the region and other countries, particularly in the U.S., could dent the pace of global economic recovery. China remains closed for the National Day holiday and South Korea is also off for National Foundation Day.
Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus as industry body ISMA said India's sugar export rose 20 per cent to an all-time high of 7.1 million tonne in the 2020-21 marketing year ended last month on the back of better demand and financial assistance from the government. In scrip specific development, Federal Bank traded higher as it posted a 10 per cent growth in advances at Rs 1,37,309 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59211.43, up by 445.85 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 58952.11 and 59228.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 1.08%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.48%, Telecom up by 1.26%, Bankex up by 0.86%, Industrials up by 0.75%, Realty up by 0.73%, while Metal down by 0.29% was the sole losing index on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 1.68%, HDFC up by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.46%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.37% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.31%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.92%, Nestle down by 0.52%, Power Grid down by 0.29%, Titan Company down by 0.26% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.02% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Former Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya has said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are sound as the real GDP in Q3 and Q4 of FY'21 already crossed the pre-pandemic level. Panagariya however also emphasised that the country needs to conquer Covid-19 as quickly and decisively as possible.
He said ‘Here the news on vaccination front is excellent. I only wish that we as citizens do our bit and religiously wear masks when coming in contact with others.’ Meanwhile, the Indian economy grew by a record 20.1 per cent in the April-June quarter this fiscal, helped by a very weak base of last year and a sharp rebound in the manufacturing and services sectors in spite of a devastating second wave of Covid-19.
He pointed out that contrary to the general impression, private investment in India has certainly already picked up. He said ‘In both Q3 and Q4 of FY21, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) at 33 per cent and 34.3 per cent of GDP, respectively, was higher than in the corresponding (pre-Covid-19) quarters a year earlier.’
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17652.50, up by 120.45 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 17581.35 and 17658.55. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 6.26%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.95%, Tata Motors up by 1.91%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.82% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.16%, UPL down by 1.35%, JSW Steel down by 1.22%, Tata Steel down by 0.82% and Eicher Motors down by 0.81% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 408.33 points or 1.42% to 28,362.74, Hang Seng declined 542.07 points or 2.21% to 24,033.57 and Taiwan Weighted lost 139.73 points or 0.84% to 16,431.16. On the other hand, Straits Times jumped 41.39 points or 1.36% to 3,092.50 and Jakarta Composite was up by 90.35 points or 1.45% to 6,319.20.
