Choppiness continues on Dalal Street

In line with Asian peers, the Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below their psychological levels of 51,050 and 15,150, respectively. Market participants took note of report where Piyush Goyal stressed on improving Indian quality standards to ensure that India is recognised as a quality-conscious country with which people can do business with confidence. He called for more and more use of artificial intelligence, big data and other technology-related solutions to help resolve standardisation issues facing industry and other entrepreneurs. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors waited to see if Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will address concerns about the risk of a rapid rise in long-term borrowing costs.

Back home, stocks from metal, telecom and energy counters were trading lower, while utilities, power and consumer durables counters were supporting the markets. Meanwhile, MTAR Technologies shares were in huge demand in the ongoing initial public offering as the issue was subscribed nearly six times on the second day of the issue. The issue will close for subscription from March 05, 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51044.44, down by 400.21 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 50539.92 and 51166.71. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.92%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.23%, Power up by 1.22%, Consumer Durables up by 0.82%, IT up by 0.51% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.48%, while Metal down by 1.76%, Telecom down by 1.05%, Energy down by 1.05%, Bankex down by 0.97% and Capital Goods was down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 1.35%, Sun Pharma up by 1.11%, Power Grid up by 1.06%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.94% and Asian Paints was up by 0.82%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.51%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.18%, HDFC Bank down by 1.81%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.64% and Axis Bank was down by 1.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Central government has three 'mantaras' for the infrastructure sector, which is upgrade, create and dedicate. He mentioned that in the 6 years, the capacity of India’s major ports has almost doubled. He said the government has developed smart cities and industrial parks and integrated ports with the coastal economic zones.

Goyal highlighted that the government is working on multi-modal logistics solutions to bring down the cost of transportation and increase supply chain efficiency. He also emphasized on integration of road, rail and waterways to bring down the cost of transportation logistics and ensure success in achieving One nation, One market. Appealing to all stakeholders to utilise the opportunity to transform from being 'service provider' to 'knowledge provider', the Minister said, ‘If we re-invent with technology driven solutions like robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, our sector will be SAFE: Sustainable, Agile, Futuristic, and Efficient.’

The ministry said ‘we are working to turn our coastal region into a role model for ease of living & ease of doing business.’ He also urged the industry captains to build industry at sea coasts. He said ‘we on our part will ensure ease of doing business, and will work in partnership with states for enhancing ease of doing business at state and local level. Let us work together with a triple engine: - Engine of Central Government, Engine of State Government, Engine of our Robust Maritime Sector. Let the engine of growth and development in India prosper and flourish.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15139.25, down by 106.35 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 14980.20 and 15171.30. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 4.61%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.58%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.44%, UPL up by 1.31% and Wipro was up by 1.15%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.60%, HDFC down by 2.45%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.13%, Tata Steel down by 2.01% and HDFC Bank was down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 305.32 points or 1.88% to 15,906.41, KOSPI fell 38.64 points or 1.25% to 3,044.35, Jakarta Composite lost 68.84 points or 1.08% to 6,307.92, Shanghai Composite declined 71.38 points or 2.00% to 3,505.52, Hang Seng decreased 651.13 points or 2.18% to 29,229.29 and Nikkei 225 was down by 628.99 points or 2.13% to 28,930.11. On the other hand, Straits Times was up by 9.50 points or 0.32% to 3,009.87.