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Domestic indices trade firm in early deals; Realty index lead
Jan-19-2021

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Tuesday tracking Asian peers. Markets are trading firm in early deals with gains of over half a percent each. Buying in all the sector indices, led by Realty, Energy and Industrials, supported the markets. Sentiments got a boost with Icra’s report stating that economic activity recorded a broad-based improvement in December as against November, showing a return of demand. Icra said most of the indicators have displayed a year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion in December 2020, which signals a tentative return to pre-COVID normalcy. Traders took note of report that India recorded 9,975 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the lowest daily rise since June 8, 2020, resulting in the total active cases in the country falling below 205,500. The death toll has increased to 152,593. India's caseload tally stands at 10,582,647. Meanwhile, as part of pre-Budget deliberations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has held a meeting with state finance ministers who suggested steps to revive growth and boost revenue collection against the backdrop of COVID-19 crisis.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher despite the absence of fresh cues from Wall Street, which was closed overnight for a holiday. Investors remained optimistic that economic growth in China will help support growth in the Asian region. Data released on Monday showed that China's economy gained further momentum towards the end of 2020. Investors now look ahead to comments from US Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen on US stimulus at the Senate confirmation hearing later today, with her prepared remarks calling on the federal government to ‘act big’.

Back home, banking stocks were in focus as S&P Global Ratings said India's banking system's low profitability and weak asset quality present some difficulties in significantly boosting digitalisation for several state-owned and smaller private-sector banks. In scrip specific developments, Man Industries gained on bagging new orders worth Rs 250 cr,ore to be executed over 5 months. Motherson Sumi traded higher amid report that it will acquire a majority stake in Turkey's Plast Met Group, a key supplier of plastic moulded parts, related sub-assemblies and injection moulding tools, for an undisclosed amount.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48840.91, up by 276.64 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 48805.54 and 49059.82. 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 1.06%, while Small cap index was up by 1.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.30%, Energy up by 1.76%, Industrials up by 1.50%, Capital Goods up by 1.44%, Oil & Gas up by 1.38%, while there was no gainers on BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.89%, ONGC up by 1.76%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.52%, Sun Pharma up by 1.37% and SBI up by 1.33%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.01%, ITC down by 0.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.41%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.24% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ICRA in its latest report has said that economic activity recorded a broad-based improvement in December as against November, showing a return of demand. It said most of the indicators have displayed a year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion in December 2020, which signals a ‘tentative return to pre-COVID normalcy’. It can be noted that there have been apprehensions about the sustainability of the demand after a pick-up in economic activity during the festivities. December was the first month after the busy activity season.

The report said ‘Economic activity rebounded solidly in December 2020 relative to the previous month, reflecting a pick-up in demand after the temporary post-festive slack and year-end discounts’. It said the waning of the unfavourable base effect related to fewer working days in November 2020 contributed to the improvement in December 2020, and added that a pick-up in the generation of GST e-way bills, and the considerable expansion in rail freight traffic, offer encouraging signals of the pace of revival in economic activity.

According to the report, as many as 12 of the 15 high-frequency indicators tracked by the agency recorded an improved year-on-year performance in December 2020, relative to November 2020, including electricity generation, the output of passenger vehicles (PVs), motorcycles, vehicle registrations, and fuel consumption.

It pointed out that the year-on-year growth in the generation of GST e-way bills nearly doubled to a robust 15.9 per cent in December 2020 from 8.1 per cent in the previous month, with a distinct pick-up in the second half of the former, added that the robust performance of e-way bills in December 2020 suggests that the GST collections will remain healthy in January as well.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14376.65, up by 95.35 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 14350.85 and 14419.50. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 3.11%, Grasim Industries up by 2.94%, ONGC up by 2.02%, Reliance Industries up by 1.81% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.79%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.54%, ITC down by 0.52%, UPL down by 0.45% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei surged 397.28 points or 1.41% to 28,639.49, Straits Times gained 13.84 points or 0.46% to 3,004.24, Hang Seng jumped 889.92 points or 3.08% to 29,752.69, Taiwan Weighted soared 219.57 points or 1.41% to 15,831.57 and KOSPI added 74.66 points or 2.48% to 3,088.59. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite lost 17.47 points or 0.27% to 6,372.36 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.12 points to 3,596.10.
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