Markets continue to trade in high spirit in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in early noon session, on account of broad based buying in blue chip counters amid positive cues from other Asian markets. At present, Sensex and Nifty were trading above the crucial 41,300 and 12,100 levels respectively. All sectoral indices were trading firm and Metal was the top gainer on BSE, up by around 1.64% followed by Utilities and Auto indices, trading up over 1.20% each. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by 0.67 and 0.40% each. Sentiments got boost with Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the public sector banks’ (PSBs) bad loans came down to Rs 7.27 lakh crore at the end of September 2019, on host of measures taken by the government to improve financial health of the banks in the country.

On global front, all Asian stocks advanced as participants eyed for dovish policy measures by Chinese Central Bank followed by report on intensified coronavirus infections and death toll. Closer home, the overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1170: 966; while 151 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41328.28, up by 348.66 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 41179.14 and 41444.34. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.64%, Utilities up by 1.26%, Auto up by 1.22%, Basic Materials up by 1.18% and Power up by 1.17%, while there were no losers on sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.51%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.01%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.79%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.74% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 1.72%. On the flip side, TCS was down by 0.33% was the lone losers.

Meanwhile, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report has showed that domestic passenger vehicle sales fell 6.2 percent to 2,62,714 units in January 2020 as compared to 2,80,091 units in the year-ago month, as vehicle demand continued to be stressed by the rising cost of ownership and slower GDP growth.

According to the data, domestic car sales were also down 8.1 percent at 1,64,793 units in the reported month as compared with 1,79,324 units in January last year. Vehicle sales across categories registered a fall of 13.83 percent to 17,39,975 units as against 20,19,253 units in January 2019. Total two-wheeler sales in January fell 16.06 percent to 13,41,005 units from 15,97,528 units in the same month last year.

Data further stated that motorcycle sales also declined by 15.17 percent to 8,71,886 units in January from 10,27,766 units a year earlier. Scooter sales during the month stood at 4,16,594 units as against 4,97,169 units in January last year, a decline of 16.21 percent. Sales of commercial vehicles were down 14.04 percent to 75,289 units in January as against 87,591 units in the year-ago month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12139.00, up by 107.50 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 12103.10 and 12172.30. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.39%, JSW Steel up by 3.18%, Hindalco up by 3.12%, Tata Motors up by 2.87% and Tata Steel was up by 2.30%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.03%, Britannia Industries down by 0.30%, TCS down by 0.28%, Wipro down by 0.17% and Infosys was down by 0.01% were the top losers.

All Asian Markets were trading higher, KOSPI rose 22.09 points or 1% to 2,223.16, Straits Times advanced 18.37 points or 0.58% to 3,181.52, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 101.17 points or 0.87% to 11,675.24, Hang Seng increased 377.32 points or 1.39% to 27,618.66, Jakarta Composite soared 3.61 points or 0.06% to 5,955.69 and Shanghai Composite was up by 16.11 points or 0.56% to 2,906.60.