Local equities shear initial gains; Sensex off day's high

After hitting fresh intraday high, local benchmarks have sheared some of their initial gains in morning session but managed to remain in green territory, amid weakness in Asian peers. Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank and ONGC were the top contributors to the gain in Sensex, together accounting for a rise of more than 1.5% in the index. Sentiments turned cautious with a private report that rising inflation is expected to keep the Reserve Bank of India from cutting rates again until late this year, while an expansionary federal budget due next month attempts to put a floor under rapidly-slowing growth. However, some positivism came with India Ratings’ report that India's growth rate is expected to be marginally higher at 5.5 per cent in 2020-21 against the estimated 5 per cent for the current fiscal on the back of strong policy push coupled with revival in demand. Sentiments got some support as a payroll data of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for November showed 19.62 lakh new additions in the month, providing some evidence of a pickup in economic activity.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red, as investors remained anxious about the spread of a new flu-like virus in China just as millions prepared to travel for the Lunar New Year. Back home, a private report showed that India has moved up eight places to the 72nd position in the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index that ranks nations on the ability to grow, attract and retain talent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41259.87, up by 144.49 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 41098.91 and 41377.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.78%, while Small cap index was up by 0.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.86%, Oil & Gas up by 1.28%, Realty up by 1.19%, Telecom up by 1.12% and Industrials up by 1.10%, while there were no losing sectoral indices.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.54%, Axis Bank up by 1.84%, ONGC up by 1.67%, Infosys up by 1.49% and HCL Tech was up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 0.92%, Power Grid down by 0.78%, Asian Paints down by 0.49%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.48% and IndusInd Bank was down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to fast track highway projects, the government has said Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is going to review road projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore on January 23 and January 24. The meeting will serve as an important platform for ironing out issues and exploring ways forward for pending projects and help in expediting their implementation. The progress of about 500 projects, especially struck/delay projects, will be taken up during the meeting. These projects involve a cost of about Rs 3 lakh crore.

Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh will also attend the meeting. Besides, various stakeholders, including about 600 developers, bankers and officials from various wings, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), will also be present. The meeting will be held at Manesar, Gurugram.

On January 23, projects in South Zone (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Pondicherry, Karnataka) and Central Zone (Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat) will be reviewed. Projects in Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will be taken up on January 24. Projects in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Goa will be taken up afterwards. The issues related to projects in North-Eastern States and under National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) have already been reviewed in a separate meeting held on January 7.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12141.60, up by 34.70 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 12094.10 and 12179.05. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indian Oil Corporation up by 4.58%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.58%, Yes Bank up by 2.47%, Axis Bank up by 1.78% and ONGC was up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 4.68%, UPL down by 1.66%, Eicher Motors down by 1.27%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.10% and Power Grid was down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 532.58 points or 1.88% to 27,808.46, Nikkei 225 slipped 218.85 points or 0.91% to 23,812.50, Shanghai Composite declined 44.57 points or 1.46% to 3,016.18, KOSPI fell 23.18 points or 1.02% to 2,244.07 and Straits Times was down by 8.66 points or 0.27% to 3,245.27. On the other side, Jakarta Composite was up by 8.44 points or 0.14% to 6,241.89.