Sensex, Nifty trade in red during late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks traded in red terrain during late morning deals, with Sensex and Nifty trading lower with marginal losses. Domestic sentiments were pessimistic, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders were cautious, amid reports that while the National Pension System (NPS) has a robust architecture, there are demand supply loopholes in the system and it also lacks flexibility, an essential component for the sector, as per findings of a discussion session held by NCAER. The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) held a workshop on investor education and protection with financial regulators, focussed on the NPS.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Hong Kong's unemployment rate rose in January. The labor force statistics from the Census and Statistics Department showed that the unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 7.0 percent in three months to January from 6.6 percent in three months to December. The underemployment rate increased to 3.8 percent from 3.4 percent in the preceding period. The number of unemployed persons increased by around 7,500 to 253,300 in November to January. Over the same period, the number of underemployed persons also increased by around 14,400 to 148,200.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51251.50, down by 73.19 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 51039.97 and 51432.99. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.23%, Telecom up by 0.46%, Oil & Gas up by 0.38%, Consumer Durables up by 0.30% and Industrials up by 0.26%, while Auto down by 1.12%, Healthcare down by 0.79%, Metal down by 0.59%, Bankex down by 0.56% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.57%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.20%, Indusind Bank up by 1.14%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.10% and NTPC up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.18%, Power Grid down by 2.13%, ICICI Bank down by 1.95%, Asian Paints down by 1.71% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest data has showed that domestic air passenger traffic of India declined 39.60% to 77.34 lakh in January 2021 as compared to 127.83 lakh passengers flown by the Indian carriers on domestic routes in January 2020. It added that domestic air passenger traffic declined as the pandemic continues to hit air travel demand.

It noted that the passenger load factor, a measure to assess how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity has been utilised, during the previous month has shown a declining trend compared to December primarily due to the tourist season. As per the data, the load factor of six major domestic airlines--IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India -- stood between 70% and 64.9% in January. Budget carrier IndiGo flew the most number of passengers at 42.03 lakh with a market share of 54.30%followed by rival carrier

The data also showed that Vistara which carried 9.92 lakh passengers during the month, cornering 12.8% share of the total domestic traffic in the month. IndiGo also recorded the highest on-time performance during the month with on an average 93.7% of its flights from four metro airports --Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad --departing/arriving on time. Besides, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of January 2021 has been 1.67%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15093.60, down by 25.35 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 15028.70 and 15144.05. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.50%, GAIL India up by 2.41%, Reliance Industries up by 1.47%, Indusind Bank up by 1.19% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.30%, Power Grid down by 2.22%, Tata Steel down by 2.20%, ICICI Bank down by 1.96% and Eicher Motors down by 1.91% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 76.02 points or 0.46% to 16,348.49, Jakarta Composite lost 24.67 points or 0.4% to 6,175.64, Shanghai Composite declined 11.62 points or 0.32% to 3,663.74, Straits Times trembled 37.22 points or 1.28% to 2,871.63, Nikkei 225 slipped 255.78 points or 0.85% to 29,980.31 and Hang Seng decreased 259.76 points or 0.85% to 30,335.51. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 0.85 points or 0.03% to 3,087.51.