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Indian equity markets continue to trade in fine fettle thanks to broad gains in rate sensitive counters, viz, auto, realty and utility. Further, even improved risk appetite in backdrop of positive global set-up has kept the sentiment upbeat at Dalal Street. Traders took support as Piyush Goyal stated that the country’s exports are growing at a healthy rate and now exporters can aim for $450-500 billion of outbound shipments during the next fiscal year.  He said exports have touched $197 billion during April-September this fiscal. Additional optimism came in as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,997 crore so far in October as India continues to be a competitive investment destination from a long-term perspective. Meanwhile, India may have to withdraw digital services tax or the equalization levy and give a commitment not to introduce such measures in the future if the global minimum tax deal comes through. In a major reform of the international tax system, 136 countries, including India, have agreed to an overhaul of global tax norms to ensure that multinationals pay taxes wherever they operate and at a minimum 15% rate. In the high volume session of trade, Sensex, is comfortably sailing above the psychological 60300 level, while 50 share index, Nifty, too is well place above the crucial 17950 level.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher despite persisting worries about the region’s energy crunch and coronavirus infections. Back home, after the historic Air India privatization, the government will now start work on monetizing its four other subsidiaries, including Alliance Air, and over Rs 14,700 crore worth non-core assets like land and building. The government on October 8 had announced that Tata group has won the bid to acquire debt-laden national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60312.83, up by 253.77 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 59811.42 and 60442.53. 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 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.92%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.90%, Realty up by 2.79%, Utilities up by 2.66%, Power up by 2.53% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 1.55%, while IT down by 1.77%, TECK down by 1.74% and Telecom was down by 0.59% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.48%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.94%, NTPC up by 2.91%, Power Grid up by 2.82% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 2.35%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.47%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.70%, HCL Tech down by 0.51%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.45% and Infosys was down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the RBI is looking for growth signs to become entrenched and show signs of durability and closely 'watchful' of evolving dynamics. He said the RBI is studying developments around inflation and growth that are dynamic and are evolving. He noted that the central bank has retained its growth forecast for the country's real gross domestic product (GDP) at 9.5 percent for the current financial year (FY22).

Das said growth has revived in certain segments and there is an uptick in some high-speed indicators. However, he said a few segments are still facing growth impediments. He also stated that the passenger car segment, which was showing some improvements, has now slightly moderated and the pick-up in the two-wheeler segment is still not visible. Besides, the contact-intensive services have shown some improvement but it is way below the pre-pandemic levels. Overall, he said the growth is slack and there is still an output gap.

The governor further said the RBI is an inflation-targeting body and there should not be any doubt about its commitment to inflation. He said ‘Going forward, in a calibrated manner and without creating disruption, our endeavor (for CPI inflation) would be to get back to as close as possible towards 4 percent.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17998.15, up by 102.95 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 17839.10 and 18032.50. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 8.97%, Coal India up by 4.48%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.03% and Power Grid was up by 2.80%. On the flip side, TCS down by 5.44%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.73%, Wipro down by 0.73%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.69% and Britannia Industries was down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly firm; Nikkei 225 surged 449.26 points or 1.6% to 28,498.20, Hang Seng increased 448.09 points or 1.8% to 25,285.94, Straits Times advanced 6.20 points or 0.2% to 3,119.01 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.95 points or 0.22% to 3,600.12.

On the other side; Jakarta Composite was down by 19.81 points or 0.31% to 6,461.96.

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