Indian benchmarks wiped out all their earlier gains to enter into negative territory in late afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty falling above 150 and 20 points, respectively. A level of pressure was seen on frontline stocks, especially ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. Traders paid no heed towards Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on February 25, 2021. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher lifted by the economic recovery, vaccine rollouts and signs that new coronavirus cases may be abating. European markets were trading higher as strong results from mining groups reinforced talk of a new 'supercycle' in commodities amid hopes for a broad and synchronized global recovery. Back home, sector wise, IT sector remained in focus after National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), in its review of the current financial year ending March 31, has said that the country's information technology sector is set to post a 2.3 per cent rise in revenues to $194 billion in the current fiscal (FY21), despite a dip in global technology spending amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51995.42, down by 158.71 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 51863.61 and 52516.76. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.15%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 3.65%, Utilities up by 3.30%, Metal up by 2.97%, Oil & Gas up by 1.69% and Energy was up by 1.65%, while Bankex down by 1.09%, IT down by 1.02%, Consumer Durables down by 0.92%, FMCG down by 0.86% and TECK was down by 0.85% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 6.95%, ONGC up by 6.15%, NTPC up by 3.52%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.45% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.43%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.32%, Axis Bank down by 3.13%, Infosys down by 1.62%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.42% and Nestle down by 1.32% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, following a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on February 25, 2021.
The Reserve Bank reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase/sale of individual securities, accept bids/offers for less than the aggregate amount, purchase/sell marginally higher/lower than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off and accept or reject any or all the bid/offers either wholly or partially without assigning any reasons.
As per the notification, eligible participants should submit their bids/offers in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system between 10:00 am and 11:00 am on February 25, 2021. Only in the event of system failure, physical bids/offers would be accepted.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15288.35, down by 26.35 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 15242.20 and 15431.75. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 6.92%, ONGC up by 5.99%, Tata Steel up by 4.11%, NTPC up by 3.57% and Hindalco up by 3.26%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.20%, Axis Bank down by 3.05%, Eicher Motors down by 1.63%, Infosys down by 1.59% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.35% were the top losers.
All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng increased 573.09 points or 1.9% to 30,746.66, Nikkei 225 surged 383.60 points or 1.28% to 30,467.75, Jakarta Composite soared 22.08 points or 0.35% to 6,292.40, KOSPI rose 16.25 points or 0.52% to 3,163.25 and Straits Times was up by 5.11 points or 0.17% to 2,936.63.
European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.91 points or 0.41% to 6,784.02, France’s CAC increased 3.99 points or 0.07% to 5,790.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 10.05 points or 0.07% to 14,119.53.
