Sensex, Nifty trade higher in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty managing to remain in green terrain. Sentiments over the street remained positive, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders got relief as Fitch Ratings expects India's economy to contract by a record 9.4 per cent in the current fiscal year ending March 2021 (FY21) amid the shock from coronavirus pandemic but this represents a 1.1 percentage point improvement from its previous forecast, reflecting a stronger-than-anticipated rebound in 3Q 2020. Risks to the growth outlook appear to have eased in recent weeks as vaccine rollouts began in other parts of the world. Fitch said forward-looking indicators suggest gathering momentum in the domestic economy, supporting its forecast that output will grow by 11 per cent in FY22.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after consumer prices in China were up 0.2 percent on year in December. The National Bureau of Statistics said that exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent following the 0.5 percent contraction in November. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.7 percent - again beating forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the 0.6 percent decline in the previous month. The bureau also said that producer prices were down 0.4 percent on year, beating forecasts for a fall of 0.8 percent after sinking 1.5 percent a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49067.40, up by 284.89 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 48956.38 and 49269.02. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.60%, while Small cap index was down by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.92%, TECK up by 2.53%, FMCG up by 1.01%, Telecom up by 0.60% and Realty up by 0.59%, while Metal down by 1.97%, Capital Goods down by 1.43%, Basic Materials down by 1.24%, Power down by 0.88% and Industrials down by 0.79% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 4.38%, HCL Tech up by 3.53%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.87%, TCS up by 1.70% and HDFC up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.85%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.59%, Axis Bank down by 1.58%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.49% and SBI down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the government’s dream to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is strengthening the entire ecosystem through rapid structural reforms to achieve the same. He said ‘we are working simultaneously to bring about a quantum leap in our quality, in our productivity, in our efficiency, so that Indian Industry can truly expand our export basket, making it bigger, better and broader’.

The Minister said new markets were being explored aggressively to enhance the reach of Indian products globally. He added ‘the Indian diaspora living abroad have more familiarity with consumer markets. You have unique insights into consumer behaviour and can guide Indian Industry to develop customised products for foreign markets’. He also said the disruptions due to COVID-19 have made everyone realise that one needs to dare to do great things.

Goyal said ‘Otherwise, we may lose our ability to be a global leader. This is the philosophy behind Aatmanirbhar Bharat. It is not about closing doors but opening it wider to build India’s capability and capacity, and our resilience with speed, skill and scale’. He noted that ‘our holistic approach consists of improving the ease of starting a business, ease of doing a business, and ease of growing a business’. He said India was growing rapidly and offered a plethora of opportunities for Indians both within and outside the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14411.60, up by 64.35 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 14383.10 and 14479.70. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.27%, Wipro up by 3.91%, HCL Tech up by 3.35%, Tata Motors up by 2.90% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.89%, Tata Steel down by 2.80%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.13%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.92% and JSW Steel down by 1.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 26.38 points or 0.17% to 15,437.57, KOSPI fell 22.27 points or 0.71% to 3,129.91, Straits Times trembled 8.80 points or 0.29% to 2,984.39 and Shanghai Composite declined 8.34 points or 0.23% to 3,561.77. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 185.40 points or 0.67% to 28,063.62 and Jakarta Composite soared 81.01 points or 1.29% to 6,338.85.