Key gauges continue to trade higher in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning deals, led by gains in Realty, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials stocks. Sentiments remained up-beat with the commerce ministry stating that India’s electronic goods exports surged by 49 percent to $11 billion during April-December 2021 as against $7.4 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year. In 2020-21, the exports stood at $11.11 billion. Sectorally, stocks related to renewable energy sector remained in watch as an independent study stated that India's renewable energy sector has the potential to employ around one million people by 2030, and most of the new jobs would be generated by small-scale renewable energy projects. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders weighed upbeat fourth quarter US GDP data against the prospect of higher interest rates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57890.40, up by 613.46 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 57570.31 and 58044.92. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 2.21%, while Small cap index was up by 2.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.91%, Oil & Gas up by 2.73%, Basic Materials up by 2.06%, Healthcare up by 2.01% and IT up by 1.90%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.48%, Sun Pharma up by 2.56%, Indusind Bank up by 2.49% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.88%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.19% and SBI down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh has indicated that people may be free to set up standalone energy storage systems (ESS) as the government plans de-licensing that under the policy for ESS. The power ministry stated that he interacted with renewable energy developers, industry and various government representatives to discuss the elements of the draft policy on the energy storage system to promote the creation of storage systems on a large scale across the country.

The policy aims at the creation of the technology-agnostic storage system across the value chain of the electricity sector generation, transmission and distribution levels. The ministry said the states welcomed the policy initiative taken by the government for the promotion of storage systems in the country. They also highlighted the efforts being taken on their side to promote pumped storage projects and battery energy storage systems.

Singh said that the energy storage system will be an integral part of the power system under the Electricity Act and that setting up of standalone ESS may be made a delicensed activity. Energy storage systems will benefit generating companies, distribution companies of the states, grid operators and other players in the electricity value chain.

They will facilitate peak shifting, peak shaving, ramp-up/ramp down, and frequency control in the system and enhance the utilisation of the transmission system. ESS is considered essential for a smooth energy transition from coal-based to renewable sources and to a cleaner environment. Highlighting the elements of the proposed policy, he stated that storage will henceforth be part of the renewable purchase obligation (RPO). He also stated that the curtailment of renewable energy will be penalised under the provisions of the Act.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17318.20, up by 208.05 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 17206.30 and 17359.70. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 5.10%, NTPC up by 4.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.28%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.98% and Indian Oil Corporation up by 2.85%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.34%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.09% and SBI down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 533.56 points or 2.04% to 26,703.86, KOSPI rose 38.34 points or 1.47% to 2,652.83, Straits Times advanced 8.24 points or 0.25% to 3,268.27 and Shanghai Composite gained 1.82 points or 0.05% to 3,396.07.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 0.82 points or 0.01% to 6,610.34 and Hang Seng decreased 200.55 points or 0.84% to 23,606.45.