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Lackluster trend continues on street

In line with Asian peers, the Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below their psychological levels of 49,400 and 14,550, respectively. Traders failed to get sense of relief with Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest assessment of the economy, indicating that the Indian economy has further recovered and estimates the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to turn positive in the third quarter of current financial year (Q3FY21). Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,614.66 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower as investors took profits after a recent rally that was driven by hopes of U.S. economic stimulus by newly inaugurated President Joe Biden. Back on street, on the sectoral front, telecom stocks were in focus as telcos recorded a 13.73 per cent increase in gross revenue at Rs 68,228 crore on a year-on-year basis in the quarter ended September 30, 2020, according to a report released by regulator Trai.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49314.63, down by 310.13 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 49139.24 and 49676.88. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.19%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.12%, IT up by 0.30%, FMCG up by 0.25% and TECK was up by 0.20%, while Metal down by 2.34%, Bankex down by 1.59%, Consumer Durables down by 1.19%, Basic Materials down by 1.18% and Energy was down by 1.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 10.68%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.76%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.08%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.06% and TCS was up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.43%, NTPC down by 2.18%, ICICI Bank down by 1.95%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.86% and Asian Paints was down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, additional secretary in the Ministry of Power Ashish Upadhyaya has said that the major focus of the central government will be on electricity distribution utilities or discoms for the next three-four years, which are mostly state-run and cash-strapped due to losses, to achieve the goal of 24X7 power for all.

There is stress in the power sector due to the inability of discoms to make timely payments for supply of power by gencos (power generating firms), which affects the entire value chain. Talking about the continuous losses of discoms, he said there is a gap between the actual rate of supply of power and the cost recovered from consumers.

According to power ministry data, discoms' total outstanding dues stood at over Rs 1.42 lakh crore as of November 2020. Last year, the government announced a Rs 90,000 crore liquidity infusion scheme for discoms which was later expanded to Rs 1.2 lakh crore. The UDAY scheme was launched in November 2015 under which the discoms' financial performance was to be turned around in three years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14501.95, down by 88.40 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 14453.00 and 14619.90. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 10.74%, Hero MotoCorp up by 6.06%, Eicher Motors up by 3.02%, Tata Motors up by 1.98% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.50%, Axis Bank down by 3.43%, JSW Steel down by 2.44%, Tata Steel down by 2.30% and NTPC was down by 2.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red, KOSPI fell 20.21 points or 0.64% to 3,140.63, Jakarta Composite lost 121.36 points or 1.89% to 6,292.53, Shanghai Composite declined 11.90 points or 0.33% to 3,609.36, Nikkei 225 slipped 125.41 points or 0.44% to 28,631.45, Taiwan Weighted dropped 134.74 points or 0.83% to 16,019.03, Straits Times trembled 22.70 points or 0.75% to 2,994.45 and Hang Seng was down by 403.60 points or 1.35% to 29,524.16.

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