Benchmarks trade slightly lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Friday on weak global cues. But, managed to pair some of their opening losses and are trading lower with marginal cut in early deals. Buying in Telecom, Energy and Capital Goods were supporting the indices, whereas selling in Auto, Metal and Bankex weighted down on the markets. Traders were concerned with report that India registered 12,643 fresh Covid-19 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Active cases in India stand at 137,866, while the caseload tally has risen to 10,962,189. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 17th among worst-hit nations by active cases. Though, markets managed to trim some losses taking note of report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped in a whopping $33.8 billion into domestic equities and debt till February 15 this fiscal year -- the highest since FY15 when it was nearly $46 billion --taking their net outstanding investments to a record $592.5 billion.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading lower following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street as a report showing U.S. initial jobless claims rose more than expected stoked worries about the fragile economic recovery. Concerns about rising inflation also weighed on the markets. Back home, telecom sector stocks were in focus with data released by sector regulator Trai showing that telecom subscriber base in the country fell marginally to 1,173 million in December 2020 with Vodafone Idea and state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL losing the bulk of their customers. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio were the only gainers of new customers in December. In scrip specific development, ONGC dropped as oil prices slid as much as 2 percent in Asian trade.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51199.98, down by 124.71 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 51039.97 and 51238.02. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.91%, Energy up by 0.65%, Capital Goods up by 0.45%, Industrials up by 0.39%, FMCG up by 0.28%, while Auto down by 1.15%, Metal down by 1.00%, Bankex down by 0.72%, IT down by 0.52%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.37%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.10%, Reliance Industries up by 0.94%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.71% and HCL Technologies up by 0.66%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.08%, Power Grid down by 1.75%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.43%, Axis Bank down by 1.00% and Asian Paints down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a Master Direction for banks and card-issuing entities laying down common minimum standards to ensure security of digital payments. The Master Direction lays down guidelines for internet banking, mobile payments, card payments, customer protection and grievance redressal mechanism.

RBI said in view of the proliferation of cyber-attacks and their potential consequences, regulated entities should implement, except where explicitly permitted/ relaxed, multi-factor authentication for payments through electronic modes and fund transfers, including cash withdrawals from ATMs/ micro-ATMs/ business correspondents, through digital payment applications. The provisions of these directions would apply to the Regulated Entities (REs) - Scheduled Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks, Payments Banks; and Credit card issuing NBFCs.

It further said such a move is expected to improve the security of digital payment channels and also convenience for users. These directions contain requirements for robust governance, implementation and monitoring of certain minimum standards on common security controls for channels like internet and mobile banking, card payments, etc. The robust protocol will help in checking frequent outages and disruption while provide secure environment of digital transaction.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15082.05, down by 36.90 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 15028.70 and 15095.10. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 3.07%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.71%, UPL up by 1.52%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.23% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.45%, Power Grid down by 2.30%, ICICI Bank down by 2.13%, Tata Motors down by 2.08% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.78% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei declined 370.60 points or 1.23% to 29,865.49, Straits Times fell 38.46 points or 1.32% to 2,870.39, Hang Seng slipped 266.11 points or 0.87% to 30,329.16, Taiwan Weighted weakened 129.60 points or 0.79% to 16,294.91, KOSPI dropped 17.41 points or 0.56% to 3,069.25, Jakarta Composite lost 20.65 points or 0.33% to 6,179.66 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.62 points or 0.32% to 3,663.74.