Sensex, Nifty maintain strong gains in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were maintaining their strong gains in late morning session, as bulls hold a tight grip over the Dalal Street. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain strong. Traders remained positive, as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched a regulatory compliance portal that will act as a bridge between citizens, industries and the government to minimize burdensome compliances. It will also act as a first-of-its-kind central online repository of all central and state-level compliances.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after the Bank of Japan decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged on Thursday and raised the growth projections. The board voted 7-1 to retain the interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. The bank will continue to purchase necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50119.63, up by 327.51 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 49964.00 and 50149.49. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.55%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.57%, Energy up by 2.14%, Auto up by 2.03%, Capital Goods up by 1.75% and Industrials up by 1.64%, while Metal down by 1.30%, Realty down by 0.54%, Utilities down by 0.48%, PSU down by 0.16% and Telecom down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 4.45%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.15%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.19%, Reliance Industries up by 2.80% and Axis Bank up by 2.64%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.10%, TCS down by 0.81%, ONGC down by 0.76%, HDFC down by 0.67% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings has said India's medium-term growth potential is at around 6.5 per cent but weak implementation of reforms, combined with continued financial sector problems, could lower its potential. It said the revival of the reform agenda is among the Indian government's policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic shock.

It mentioned ‘if implemented effectively, we believe these reforms may help to support India's medium-term growth and partially offset downside pressures to investment from renewed asset-quality challenges in the financial sector and damaged corporate balance sheets.’ It said the planned farm sector reforms aim to enhance efficiency, by giving farmers more flexibility over where to sell their produce by stripping out middle men and has the potential to improve farmers' income and reduce consumer prices.

However, it stated implementation risks are significant and the Supreme Court in mid-January suspended the relevant laws to facilitate a review and airing of farmer grievances. It added that segments of the farm lobby have protested for months, apparently over fears that the reform could result in abolition of minimum support prices, although the government has said this will not happen.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14737.35, up by 92.65 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 14695.25 and 14745.20. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 6.88%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.50%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.14%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.99% and Reliance Industries up by 2.80%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.67%, JSW Steel down by 1.35%, Coal India down by 1.20%, HDFC Bank down by 1.20% and GAIL India down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei surged 250.28 points or 0.88% to 28,773.54, Straits Times rose 4.01 points or 0.13% to 3,002.78, Hang Seng gained 27.49 points or 0.09% to 29,989.96, Taiwan Weighted jumped 287.00 points or 1.82% to 16,093.18, KOSPI soared 17.90 points or 0.57% to 3,132.45, Jakarta Composite added 5.32 points or 0.08% to 6,435.08 and Shanghai Composite was up by 46.52 points or 1.30% to 3,629.61.