Sensex, Nifty remain negative in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained negative with marginal losses in late morning session, as both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their neutral lines. Domestic sentiments were negative, on the back of mixed cues from other Asian markets. The street paid no heed towards Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur’s statement that gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks (PSBs) declined from Rs 8.96 lakh crore in March 2018 to Rs 6.09 lakh crore in September 2020 due to various measures taken by the government. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after consumer prices in China were up 1.0 percent on month in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - in line with expectations following the 0.7 percent increase in December. On a yearly basis, consumer prices fell 0.3 percent - shy of expectations for a flat reading following the 0.2 percent gain in the previous month. The bureau also said that producer prices rose 0.3 percent on year in January - missing forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent after sinking 0.4 percent a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51239.74, down by 89.34 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 50965.22 and 51512.86. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.73%, Basic Materials up by 0.22%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.22% and Utilities up by 0.08%, while Telecom down by 1.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.86%, Energy down by 0.70%, Industrials down by 0.59% and Oil & Gas down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.94%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.03%, HDFC up by 0.97% and TCS up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.55%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.41%, Axis Bank down by 1.26%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.17% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar stated that the government has been pursuing the target of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and several interventions taken are showing a ‘positive impact’. In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had set a highly ambitious target of doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. An inter-ministerial committee on ‘Doubling of Farmers' Income’ was set up in April 2016 to recommend strategies to achieve this goal. He said the implementation of various recommendations of the committee and comprehensive interventions of the government are ‘having a positive impact on growth of agriculture and income of farmers’.

The minister said the government has adopted several developmental programmes, schemes, reforms and policies that focus on higher incomes for the farmers. All these policies and programmes are being supported by higher budgetary allocations, non-budgetary financial resources by way of creating corpus funds, and supplementary income transfers under PM-KISAN. The latest major intervention includes the 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat- Agriculture package' which includes comprehensive market reforms and creation of 'Agricultural Infrastructure Fund' worth Rs 1 lakh crore.

The minister also mentioned that the committee on doubling farmers' income recommended seven sources of income growth. These include improvement in crop productivity; improvement in livestock productivity; resource use efficiency or savings in the cost of production; and increase in the cropping intensity. Diversification towards high value crops, improvement in real prices received by farmers, and shift from farm to non-farm occupations are also included.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15092.15, down by 17.15 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 15006.10 and 15168.25. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.78%, Grasim Industries up by 2.38%, SBI Life Insuran up by 2.30%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.23% and GAIL India up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 3.06%, Titan Co down by 1.40%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.30%, Axis Bank down by 1.25% and Coal India down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 512.53 points or 1.74% to 29,988.72, Shanghai Composite gained 37.16 points or 1.03% to 3,640.65 and KOSPI rose 9.30 points or 0.3% to 3,093.97. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 3.95 points or 0.13% to 2,931.32, Jakarta Composite lost 5.84 points or 0.09% to 6,175.83 and Nikkei 225 slipped 33.00 points or 0.11% to 29,472.93.