Sensex, Nifty add losses in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued trading below their neutral lines in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty adding losses. Sentiments over the street remained negative, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious, as the committee, comprising senior central and state tax officers, is looking to further tighten the Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration process and work out other legal measures including necessary law amendment required in the GST Act to curb the menace of fake invoicing. Also, the provisions related to deemed registration under GST law may be tightened to prevent the misuse of such provisions by fake dealers and the provisions related to the suspension of registration may also be streamlined to make the procedure of suspension and cancellation of registration more efficient and faster, so that such fraud operators can be prevented in time from continuing to pass on fake credit down the chain.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 872.899 billion yen in October. The Ministry of Finance said that exceeded forecasts for a surplus of 250 billion yen following the 675 billion yen surplus in September. Exports were down 0.2 percent on year at 6.566 trillion yen, beating expectations for a loss of 4.5 percent following the 4.9 percent drop in the previous month. Imports were down an annual 13.3 percent at 5.693 trillion yen versus expectations for a loss of 9.9 percent following the 17.2 percent tumble a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 43880.95, down by 71.76 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 43785.78 and 44051.66. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.57%, Industrials up by 1.85%, Auto up by 1.08%, Utilities up by 0.85% and Power up by 0.81%, while Telecom down by 1.75%, TECK down by 1.43%, IT down by 1.32%, Consumer Durables down by 1.07% and FMCG down by 1.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 6.13%, Larsen & Toubro up by 5.03%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.94%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.71% and SBI up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.43%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.34%, ITC down by 2.16%, TCS down by 1.68% and Tata Steel down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government think-tank Niti Aayog has proposed setting up an oversight body which will play an enabling role regarding technical, legal, policy and societal aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). In its draft ‘Working Document: Enforcement Mechanisms for Responsible AIforAll’, Niti Aayog said the oversight body must have industry representatives as well as experts from legal, humanities and social science fields. It added that a flexible risk-based approach must be adopted. In this regard, the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence proposes an Oversight Body.

The draft document said ‘the oversight body must play an enabling role under the following broad areas: research, technical, legal, policy, societal issues of AI’. The oversight mechanism may serve in an advisory capacity and it must interface with existing regulators across sectors. It said ‘Technology easily blends across other technologies and must not be viewed in silo. Ethics should be seen as not just limited to AI but also other emerging technologies such as AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality) etc’.

The draft document also noted that the government may support research on the impact of AI in the Indian context and fundamental research to advance ‘Responsible AI’ by prioritising funding opportunities and fellowship programs. It said ‘International alliances may be leveraged to facilitate exchange of multi-disciplinary talent, data, and consolidation of research efforts, especially in areas of social good’. It also said an ethics committee may be constituted for the procurement, development, operations phase of AI systems and be made accountable for adherence to the Responsible AI principles.

The Niti Aayog had in June 2020 released a draft paper titled ‘Towards ResponsibleAIForAll’ and had said there is a potential of large scale adoption of AI in a variety of social sectors. the draft document had said ‘The government may fund specific research projects in responsible Artificial Intelligence and introduce ethics of AI into the university curriculum as the new-age technology is expected to boost India’s annual growth rate by 1.3 per cent by 2035’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12843.05, down by 31.15 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 12819.35 and 12901.75. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 6.02%, Larsen & Toubro up by 5.18%, Tata Motors up by 3.99%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.96% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.94%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.19%, Titan Company down by 2.46%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.25%, ITC down by 2.22% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 157.57 points or 0.6% to 26,572.66, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 138.59 points or 1.02% to 13,731.60, Jakarta Composite soared 21.22 points or 0.38% to 5,551.16, Shanghai Composite gained 15.79 points or 0.47% to 3,355.69, Straits Times advanced 7.67 points or 0.28% to 2,786.22 and KOSPI rose 6.30 points or 0.25% to 2,545.45. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 198.70 points or 0.76% to 25,815.92.