Benchmarks maintain gains in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks maintained their gains in green territory in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling positions in Energy, Telecom and Oil & Gas sector while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Bankex and PSU sector stocks. Traders took support, as Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC India) has said that India’s engineering exports have increased by 18.69 percent in January 2021 and demand for such products in the international markets is expected to be steady in the remaining two months of the current fiscal. Traders took note that Industry body the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said steps taken by the government is helping the country's exports to record positive growth and the trend is expected to continue. Sanjay Budhia, Chairman, CII National Committee on EXIM, said that uncertainties in the global markets are trending down as countries move out of lockdowns and vaccine rollout gains pace. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after President Joe Biden held his first conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since taking office, though there was no indication of any major change in U.S. trade policy. European markets were trading mostly higher, as investors kept close watch on a barrage of earnings reports from companies for clues on the pace of business recovery.

  The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51447.75, up by 138.36 points or 0.27% 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 gained by 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.51%, Telecom up by 1.98%, Oil & Gas up by 1.23%, Utilities up by 1.09% and Basic Materials was up by 0.82%, while Capital Goods down by 0.72%, Consumer Durables down by 0.57%, Bankex down by 0.29%, PSU down by 0.28% and Industrials was down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.34%, Reliance Industries up by 3.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.97%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.50% and Nestle up by 1.46%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.61%, Titan Company down by 2.48%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.32%, HDFC Bank down by 1.12% and ICICI Bank down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the auto industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report has showed that passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased by 11.14 per cent to 2,76,554 units in January 2021 as compared with 2,48,840 units in January 2020.

As per report, two-wheeler dispatches to dealers also rose 6.63 per cent to 14,29,928 units, compared to 13,41,005 units in January 2020, while motorcycle sales increased 5.1 per cent to 9,16,365 units as against 8,71,886 in January 2020.

SIAM further said that scooter sales were also up 9.06 per cent at 4,54,315 units from 4,16,567 units a year ago. Three-wheeler sales, however, declined by 56.76 per cent to 26,335 units as compared with Rs 60,903 units in January last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15148.90, up by 8.35 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 15065.40 and 15167.70. There were 34 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.29%, Cipla up by 0.19%, ICICI Bank up by 0.18%, Sun Pharma up by 0.16% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.14%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 0.29%, Grasim Industries down by 0.24%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.16%, Indian Oil down by 0.16% and Asian Paints down by 0.07% 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 was up by 20.69 points or 0.33% to 6,222.52. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 0.36 points or 0.01% to 2,925.48.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.39 points or 0.14% to 6,533.75, France’s CAC increased 2.61 points or 0.05% to 5,673.41 and Germany’s DAX was down by 15.81 points or 0.11% to 13,948.78.