Sensex, Nifty trade flat in late afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat in late afternoon session, on the back of mixed cues from European markets. Domestic sentiments got hit after investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the Indian capital market dropped to Rs 69,670 crore at the end of November. The total value of investments via P-notes in the Indian markets (including equity, debt, and derivatives) declined by Rs 7,103 crore to Rs 69,670 crore by the end of November from Rs 76,773 crore at October-end. The street paid no heed towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Indian economy has the resilience to reverse the current slowdown and return to high growth trajectory and he exhorted corporates to take bold investment decisions to help push up GDP growth.

On the global front, European markets were trading mixed, as German consumer confidence is set to weaken in January. The survey data from market research group GfK showed that the forward-looking consumer sentiment index fell to 9.6 in January from 9.7 in December. The score was forecast to rise marginally to 9.8. However, Asian markets were trading in red, after Japan's consumer price inflation accelerated in November after the sales tax hike but remained well below the central bank target. Core inflation that excludes fresh food rose to 0.5 percent in November from 0.4 percent in October.

Back home, the realty sector stocks were in watch, amid a private report stating that investment in Indian real estate sector is estimated to have increased by 9 per cent to Rs 43,780 crore during this calendar year on higher inflow from foreign funds. Office properties attracted 46 per cent of the total inflow and received nearly Rs 20,000 crore this year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41684.42, up by 10.50 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 41646.74 and 41809.96. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.87%, PSU up by 1.14%, Consumer Durables up by 0.74%, Utilities up by 0.65% and Power up by 0.59%, while Healthcare down by 0.30%, IT down by 0.22%, Realty down by 0.13%, Energy down by 0.05% and FMCG down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 5.31%, SBI up by 3.08%, Tata Steel up by 2.20%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.95% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.68%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.72%, HDFC down by 1.01%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.87% and ITC down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to facilitate the exporting community and undertake promotional measures to increase exports, Secretary of Ministry of AYUSH, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha has said that the government will soon launch AYUSH Export Promotion Council of India and AYUSH Export Research Council.

Kotecha further mentioned that NABH & QCI have recently launched entry level standards of accreditation programme for practitioners and entrepreneurs who can start their day care facilities, hospitals around AYUSH with minimal standards to reach out to a wider audience across the country.

At 2nd International Exhibition & Conference on AYUSH & Wellness sector 'International Arogya 2019' organized by FICCI, jointly with Ministry of AYUSH, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and Pharmexcil, Secretary Ministry of AYUSH also underlined that they have received Rs 760 crore for providing soft loans and subsidies to entrepreneurs - contributing to the rapid growth of the AYUSH Sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12266.45, up by 6.75 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 12252.75 and 12293.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 5.41%, SBI up by 2.96%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.80%, Tata Steel up by 2.17% and Titan up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.05%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.76%, HDFC down by 1.03%, ITC down by 0.84% and TCS down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 59.82 points or 0.5% to 11,959.08, Nikkei 225 slipped 48.22 points or 0.2% to 23,816.63, Jakarta Composite lost 12.45 points or 0.2% to 6,237.48, Shanghai Composite declined 5.60 points or 0.19% to 3,011.47 and Straits Times was down by 3.29 points or 0.1% to 3,204.13. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 1.71 points or 0.01% to 27,802.20 and KOSPI was up by 7.62 points or 0.35% to 2,204.18.

European markets were trading mixed; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 3.53 points or 0.05% to 7,570.29 and France’s CAC fell 0.02 points or 0.01% to 5,972.26 while Germany’s DAX was up by 3.27 points or 0.02% to 13,215.23.