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Bourses continue to trade higher

Key benchmark indices continued to trade higher in afternoon session as traders were taking encouragement with of easing Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to 4.06 per cent in the month of January 2021. The retail inflation during the month of December 2020 was at 4.59 per cent. This is the second consecutive month the CPI data has come within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent. On the sectoral front, telecom stocks were in focus as telecom service providers (telcos) are expected to dial in next round of tariff hikes over the next one or two quarters which is likely to drive revenue growth in new financial year (2021-22) beginning April 1. On the global front, Asian markets were higher amid successful coronavirus vaccine rollouts globally raise hopes of a rapid economic recovery amid new fiscal aid from Washington.

Back home, healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and Axis Bank. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers. In scrip specific developments, V2 Retail jumped on opening new retail store in Uttar Pradesh and ONGC gained despite reporting 47% fall in Q3 consolidated net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52072.59, up by 528.29 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 51886.46 and 52141.67. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.41%, while Small cap index up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.12%, Bankex up by 1.93%, Telecom up by 1.30%, Power up by 1.08% and Healthcare was up by 0.93%, whilw Consumer Durables was down by 0.10% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 3.27%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.55%, Axis Bank up by 2.46%, Indusind Bank up by 2.43% and ICICI Bank was up by 2.27%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.55%, TCS down by 0.84%, HCL Tech down by 0.54%, Titan Company down by 0.38% and Asian Paints was down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a growth of 1 per cent in December 2020, primarily led by basic metals, pharmaceutical and petrochemical products, and an overall positive growth in the manufacturing sector. This comes after IIP had contracted by 1.9 per cent in November. The IIP had grown 0.4 per cent in December 2019. The industrial production had plunged 18.7 per cent in March last year following the COVID-19 outbreak and remained in the negative zone till August 2020. The industrial growth so far in the fiscal year 2020-21 (April-December) has contracted -13.5 per cent, compared to a 0.3 per cent rise in the corresponding period a year ago.

The data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that for the month of December 2020, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 135.9. The manufacturing sector - which constitutes 77.63 per cent of the IIP - recorded a growth of 1.6 per cent in December 2020. Mining sector output declined by 4.8 per cent in December 2020. However, power generation grew by 5.1 per cent. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of December 2020 stood at 115.1, 137.5 and 158.0 respectively.

Consumer durables output surged by 4.9 per cent, compared to 5.6 per cent contraction in December 2019. Consumer non-durable goods production grew by two per cent, compared to a contraction of 3.2 per cent a year ago. As per Use-based classification, the indices stood at 129.2 for Primary Goods, 94.3 for Capital Goods, 147.5 for Intermediate Goods and 147.7 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of December 2020. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stood at 123.0 and 161.2 respectively for the month of December 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15294.85, up by 131.55 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 15243.40 and 15321.30. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 3.19%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.46%, Axis Bank up by 2.39%, Indusind Bank up by 2.31% and ICICI Bank was up by 2.09%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.54%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.47%, Grasim Industries down by 1.34%, SBI Life Insuran down by 1.32% and Coal India was down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 564.08 points or 1.91% to 30,084.15, Jakarta Composite soared 54.78 points or 0.88% to 6,277.30, KOSPI rose 46.42 points or 1.50% to 3,147.00 and Straits Times was up by 8.92 points or 0.30% to 2,934.40.