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Indian benchmark indices pared gains but continued their firm trade in the afternoon session with Sensex and Nifty trading above 59,200 and 17,650 levels, respectively. Sentiments got some support with Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) report that employment increased by 8.5 million in September, led by the salaried jobs category, as the unemployment rate declined to 6.9 per cent during the month. The labour participation rate increased from 40.5 per cent to 40.7 per cent and the employment rate inched up from 37.2 per cent to 37.9 per cent. In another positive development, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were stood as net buyers for the second month in a row in the Indian market with an investment of Rs 26,517 crore in September. As per depositories’ data, FPIs pumped in Rs 13,154 crore into equities and Rs 13,363 crore in the debt segment during September 1-30. However, markets trimmed some of their gains as traders were worried as 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 were trading mixed as concerns about China's property sector and inflation worries offset upbeat U.S. data and positive news on new drugs to fight the coronavirus. Back home, finance ministry official has stated that LIC is likely to file draft papers with SEBI by November for the largest IPO in country's history. Once the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) is filed, merchant bankers will hold global and domestic road shows for investors by January. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 2291:941; while 200 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59264.32, up by 498.74 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 58952.11 and 59548.82. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.13%, while Small cap index was up by 1.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.52%, Healthcare up by 1.60%, Industrials up by 1.52%, Power up by 1.37% and Capital Goods was up by 1.21%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.23% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.80%, NTPC up by 2.97%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.77%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.00% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 0.47%, Power Grid down by 0.36%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.34%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.28% and Tata Steel was down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, terming Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as a ‘seminal reform’, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) KV Subramanian has said that it has been instrumental in changing the mindset of promoters of businesses by making them more accountable. Before IBC, he said, there used to be this feudalism where the corporate debtor took it as the divine right to be in control.

Subramanian has stated that one big change that the IBC has brought is that it has ended feudalism of the promoters in a capitalistic society. He noted that there is absolutely no space for feudalism in an economic society which is actually based on freedom. In a democracy or a free society, he said there is no space for feudalism. Talking about resistance to reforms in a democracy, he said it comes from a vocal minority who have access to corridors of power.

CEA said ‘in any democracy, when you think about reform, there is always this tussle between two sets of stakeholders, one that is a vocal minority versus a silent majority. The vocal minority is typically one that has benefited from the status quo. On the other side of this tussle is a silent majority. The reason that this majority often stays silent is that they oftentimes don't even know the benefits that they are going to have that are going to come to them from the reform’. Observing that the silent majority realises when benefit accrues to them, he said, the same vocal minority versus silent majority being played out in recent reforms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17676.70, up by 144.65 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 17581.35 and 17750.90. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 7.52%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.79%, NTPC up by 2.89%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.75% and Tata Motors was up by 2.61%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.51%, UPL down by 1.92%, Eicher Motors down by 1.75%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.22% and Cipla was down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted dropped 162.54 points or 0.98% to 16,408.35, Nikkei 225 slipped 326.18 points or 1.13% to 28,444.89 and Hang Seng was down by 620.89 points or 2.53% to 23,954.75.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite soared 90.74 points or 1.46% to 6,319.59 and Straits Times was up by 32.85 points or 1.08% to 3,083.96.

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