Indian bourses continue to trade flat in afternoon session

Indian bourses continued to trade flat in afternoon session with frontline gauges trading below their crucial 35,650 (Sensex) and 10,650 (Nifty) levels. Traders remained cautious ahead of the third quarter results of key companies. Some concern also came with a report that the United States and China launch a critical round of trade talks amid deep differences over US demands for structural economic reforms from Beijing that will make it difficult to reach a deal before a March 2 US tariff hike. However, traders took some solace with ICRA’s report that  while the number of insolvency cases are expected to pile up over the next few quarters, timely conclusion of cases within the law mandated 180-270 days can free up as much as Rs 67,000 crore to the system.  On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mostly in green, as traders awaited a Federal Reserve policy meeting and U.S.-China talks. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35607.13, up by 14.63 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 35526.79 and 35850.41. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.04%, Bankex up by 1.03%, Metal up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.67% and Consumer Durables up by 0.29%, while Realty down by 1.30%, Oil & Gas down by 0.95%, FMCG down by 0.86%, Energy down by 0.52% and Telecom down by 0.27% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 4.27%, ICICI Bank up by 3.63%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.41%, Tata Steel up by 2.87% and HCL Tech. up by 2.79%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.00%, HDFC down by 1.74%, Asian Paints down by 1.27%, ITC down by 1.08% and HDFC Bank down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that India is optimally leveraging digital technologies to offer various services for citizens and is poised to take full advantage of new generation of technological advancements. He said that digital technologies are advancing and becoming all pervasive.

Prabhu has stated that some countries will have a natural advantage in offering these services for all the platforms, be it the government services, business to business or any other service. He noted that the future of digital services will be based on convergence, and effective use of broadband.

The minister further said that his ministry is committed to promote the use of technology, and there is Rs 5,000 crore action plan to promote champion sectors of the service sector, in which IT and related services will play a key role. He also said “we will ensure the sector develops, creates job opportunities and ensure complete coverage of the population to eradicate digital divide, through digital literacy and infrastructure development.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10642.35, down by 9.85 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 10622.40 and 10710.20. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 4.56%, ICICI Bank up by 3.47%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.33%, Tata Steel up by 3.09% and HCL Tech. up by 2.88%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.03%, Bharti Infratel down by 3.55%, HPCL down by 3.14%, JSW Steel down by 2.62% and Indian Oil Corp. down by 2.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 73.27 points or 0.27% to 27,604.95, KOSPI rose 11.62 points or 0.53% to 2,194.98, Jakarta Composite soared 9.98 points or 0.16% to 6,446.46, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 21.42 points or 0.22% to 9,953.01, Shanghai Composite gained 2.40 points or 0.09% to 2,596.65 and Straits Times advanced 2.28 points or 0.07% to 3,189.97.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 66.31 points or 0.32% to 20,598.33.