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Local equity benchmarks erased all the losses to turn positive in afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty were trading above 52,300 and 15,650 marks, respectively. Some support came with the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that a special session of the GST Council will be held soon to discuss all compensation-related issues. However, upside remains capped on sustained foreign fund outflow. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stood as net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,245.29 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data. On the sectoral front, auto stocks were in focus as government is planning to set up an institution to fund businesses with a focus on electric vehicles as well as facilitate new financial instruments for lending to the public transportation and commercial vehicle segment. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as the investors’ side lined ahead to the US Jobs report and on worries over acceleration in the delta variant of the coronavirus cases and travel curbs in several countries.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52344.10, up by 25.50 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 52177.68 and 52436.83. There were 11 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.99%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.54%, Consumer Durables up by 1.07%, Realty up by 1.00%, Healthcare up by 0.81% and Energy up by 0.74%, while Power down by 1.22%, Utilities down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.59%, Metal down by 0.59% and Capital Goods was down by 0.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.71%, ICICI Bank up by 1.13%, Reliance Industries up by 1.09%, SBI up by 0.92% and Bajaj Finance was up by 0.82%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.14%, Tata Steel down by 1.12%, Power Grid down by 0.97%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.87% and Tech Mahindra was down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the second wave of covid-19 pandemic took a grievous toll on India, but the dented economic activity has started recovering from late-May. In a first, he flagged the rising data breaches and cyber attacks as a risk facing the economy, along with others like firming global commodity prices. He noted that the recovery that had commenced in the second half of 2020-21 was dented in April-May 2021, but with the wave of infections abating as rapidly as it had set in, economic activity has started to look up in late May and early June.

Das said the dent on balance sheets and performance of financial institutions in India have been much less than what was projected earlier, but was quick to add that a clearer picture will emerge as the effects of regulatory reliefs fully work their way through. He also said capital and liquidity buffers at financial institutions are ‘reasonably resilient’ to withstand any future shocks. He added that the financial system is on the front foot to aid recovery, but the priority is to maintain and preserve financial stability.

He further said domestic financial markets are also boosted by the strengthening signs of the pandemic's abatement, the growing pace and breadth of the vaccination drive and renewed hopes of the economy clawing back lost ground as it unlocks. He said ‘while the recovery is underway, new risks have emerged on the horizon and these include the still nascent and mending state of the upturn, vulnerable as it is to shocks and future waves of the pandemic; international commodity prices and inflationary pressures; global spillovers amid high uncertainty; and rising incidence of data breaches and cyber attacks’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15688.65, up by 8.65 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 15635.95 and 15711.20. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 1.95%, Adani Ports up by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.60%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.40% and ICICI Bank was up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.15%, JSW Steel down by 1.14%, TCS down by 1.08%, Power Grid down by 0.97% and Britannia Inds was down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, KOSPI fell 0.28 points or 0.01% to 3,281.78, Taiwan Weighted dropped 3.79 points or 0.02% to 17,710.15, Hang Seng decreased 559.70 points or 1.94% to 28,268.25 and Shanghai Composite was down by 65.38 points or 1.82% to 3,523.40.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 27.21 points or 0.45% to 6,033.17, Straits Times advanced 1.57 points or 0.05% to 3,125.76 and Nikkei 225 was up by 76.24 points or 0.27% to 28,783.28.

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