Markets at day’s high

Indian equity bourses added gains in late afternoon session to trade near their intraday high points, on account of firm opening of European markets. The street remained optimistic, amid a private report stating that deal activity by private venture investors grew by 28 per cent to $48 billion in 2019, propelled by infrastructure bets, but will slow down to under 20 per cent in 2020. Some support also came with reports that the government think-tank Niti Aayog will develop a national data and analytics platform to make all government data accessible to stakeholders in a user-friendly manner.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after the euro area private sector grew at the same moderate pace as seen in the final month of 2019. The survey data from IHS Markit showed that the composite output index held steady at 50.9 in January. Asian markets were also trading in green, as Japan's private sector rebounded at the start of 2020, driven by the expansion in services output. The flash survey results from IHS Markit showed that the Jibun Bank flash composite output index rose to 51.1 in January from 48.6 in December. A score above the neutral 50 indicates expansion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41656.07, up by 269.67 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 41275.60 and 41697.03. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.75%, Consumer Durables up by 1.35%, Industrials up by 1.19%, Metal up by 1.18% and Basic Materials up by 1.04%, while Telecom down by 0.66%, TECK down by 0.19%, IT down by 0.19% and Energy down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.35%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.96%, NTPC up by 1.94% and Nestle up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.99%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.17%, Indusind Bank down by 0.98%, TCS down by 0.55% and Infosys down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to democratize access to publicly available government data, government think-tank, NITI Aayog has released its vision for the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP). The platform will host the latest datasets from various government websites, present them coherently, and provide tools for analytics and visualization.

Besides, NDAP will follow a user-centric approach and will enable data access in a simple and intuitive portal tailored to the needs of a variety of stakeholders. The platform will also spearhead the standardization of formats in which data is presented across sectors and will cater to a wide audience of policymakers, researchers, innovators, data scientists, journalists and citizens.

Meanwhile, the development of NDAP will take place over a period of one year. The first version of the platform is expected to be launched in 2021. The process will follow a user-centric approach, and will incorporate feedback received from various users and stakeholders throughout the course of its development.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12263.25, up by 82.90 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 12149.65 and 12272.15. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 6.47%, Britannia up by 2.66%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.50%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.40% and NTPC up by 2.16%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.00%, Indusind Bank down by 0.86%, Cipla down by 0.66% and Wipro down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 40.52 points or 0.15% to 27,949.64, Nikkei 225 surged 31.74 points or 0.13% to 23,827.18 and Straits Times was up by 5.46 points or 0.17% to 3,240.02. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 3.89 points or 0.06% to 6,245.32.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 103.95 points or 1.38% to 7,611.62, France’s CAC rose 81.53 points or 1.37% to 6,053.32 and Germany’s DAX was up by 171.44 points or 1.28% to 13,559.86.