Indian equity benchmarks remained in green in morning deals, shrugging off weakness across other Asian markets. Sentiments remained positive with a private survey showed India's dominant services industry expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade on improved domestic demand despite high inflation, driving firms to take on staff at a rate not seen since the onset of the pandemic. The IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index accelerated to 58.4 last month from 55.2 in September, above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction for a third straight month. Some support also came after Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that India has an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to grow electronics manufacturing to $300 billion in the next 3-4 years, building on scale, competitiveness, large market and enabling policies. He also said the world is seeking more trusted sources for electronics manufacturing post the outbreak of COVID-19 and India has all the essential elements in place to seize the opportunity.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s roadmap for reducing stimulus and any hints on when interest rates may go up. Back home, on the sectoral front, banking stocks remained in watch as the RBI issued a revised Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework for banks to enable supervisory intervention at appropriate time and also act as a tool for effective market discipline. It said capital, asset quality and leverage will be the key areas for monitoring in the revised framework.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60244.59, up by 215.53 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 60193.44 and 60361.82. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.47%, Realty up by 2.25%, Industrials up by 1.34%, Metal up by 0.94% and Oil & Gas up by 0.89%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.49%, Telecom down by 0.18%, FMCG down by 0.16% and Healthcare down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.98%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.64%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.32%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.21% and Tata Steel up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.65%, Titan Company down by 0.56%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.47%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.29% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.22% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, automobile dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has termed the current festive season as the worst in terms of business in a decade for its retail partners across the country. The industry body, which represents over 15,000 auto dealers that own over 26,500 outlets across the country, said the chip shortage situation has impacted offtake in the passenger vehicle segment.
FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said ‘This is the worst festive season that the Indian auto retail has seen in the last decade. Chip shortage is impacting supplies in PV creating a huge shortage of vehicles in SUV, compact - SUV and luxury segment. He added the entry-level passenger vehicle segment is still seeing less demand due to customers conserving money for the health care needs.
He noted sales in the entry two-wheeler segment were still not picking up due to rural distress and fuel prices, and people are trying to save for healthcare emergencies rather than making a high-value purchase. In the commercial vehicles space, the situation was comparatively better with a pick-up in demand for intra-state movement of goods.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17964.30, up by 75.35 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 17935.15 and 17988.75. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 4.51%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.13%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.52%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.87% and Hindalco up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.89%, Divi's Lab down by 1.51%, Titan Company down by 0.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.49% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.42% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 242.66 points or 0.97% to 24,857.01, KOSPI fell 34.50 points or 1.14% to 2,978.99, Shanghai Composite declined 13.17 points or 0.38% to 3,492.46 and Straits Times trembled 13.04 points or 0.4% to 3,219.33.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 31.36 points or 0.48% to 6,524.64 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 46.66 points or 0.27% to 17,112.63.
