Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in green terrain

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green terrain during late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding marginal gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to trade in green terrain. Domestic sentiments were positive, as DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated that the new PSE policy announced by the government has opened a host of opportunities for the private players who now partake in India's growth story by buying the brownfield assets of public sector enterprises at an attractive valuation. He said privatisation, as a means of improving efficiency and hence achieving higher productivity and improved allocation of resources, has been one of the guiding principles of the Budget.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Malaysia's economy contracted in the whole year of 2020 at the fastest pace since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The data from the Bank Negara Malaysia showed that in 2020, gross domestic product was down 5.6 percent, in contrast to the 4.3 percent expansion posted in 2019. The latest decrease was the largest fall since 1998. In the fourth quarter, GDP dropped 3.4 percent annually, after easing 2.6 percent in the third quarter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51397.38, up by 87.99 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 51157.31 and 51519.91. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.64%, Telecom up by 1.42%, Oil & Gas up by 1.01%, Basic Materials up by 0.89% and Utilities up by 0.76%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.74%, Capital Goods down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.22%, Healthcare down by 0.17% and Industrials down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.06%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.70%, Power Grid up by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.27% and Nestle up by 1.18%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.66%, Titan Company down by 2.57%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.15%, ITC down by 0.72% and HDFC down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated that the new PSE policy announced by the government has opened a host of opportunities for the private players who now partake in India's growth story by buying the brownfield assets of public sector enterprises at an attractive valuation. He said privatisation, as a means of improving efficiency and hence achieving higher productivity and improved allocation of resources, has been one of the guiding principles of the Budget.

He added that the unveiling of the blueprint of a new privatisation policy in the Budget is akin to the landmark reforms carried out in 1991. He said ‘the policy has also opened a host of opportunities for the private players who now partake in India's growth story by buying the brownfield assets of the PSEs at an attractive valuation’. Brownfield assets are the existing assets.

Unveiling the PSE policy in Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said barring four strategic areas, public sector enterprises (PSEs) in other sectors will be divested. The policy would give a clear roadmap for disinvestment in strategic and non-strategic sectors.  The four sectors are atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; and banking, insurance and financial services in non-strategic sectors. In case of strategic sector, a ‘bare minimum’ number of CPSEs will be retained and the rest would be privatised or merged or made subsidiary of another CPSE or closed down.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15140.00, up by 33.50 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 15065.40 and 15167.70. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.24%, GAIL India up by 3.07%, Reliance Industries up by 2.31%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.97% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 3.04%, NTPC down by 2.65%, Titan Co down by 2.60%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.10% and Divis Lab down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 134.85 points or 0.45% to 30,173.57 and Jakarta Composite soared 8.05 points or 0.13% to 6,209.88. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 0.36 points or 0.01% to 2,925.48.