Local equities continue to trade in negative zone

Local equity benchmarks continued their trade in negative territory in morning session, with Sensex and Nifty falling around half a percent each, amid a mixed trend in global markets. Weakness in IT, TECK and Banking stocks pulled the headline indices lower. Sentiments remained pessimistic as survey by IHS Markit showed India's dominant services sector growth slowed to six-month low in January as restrictions due to Omicron wave of Covid-19 cases and surging prices weighed on demand. The IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slumped to 51.5 in January from 55.5 in December. Though, still above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. Both new business and output rose at slight rates that were the weakest in six months. However, downside remain capped as traders took some support with data by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showing that India's unemployment rate witnessed a sharp decline to 6.57 per cent in January, the lowest since March 2021, as the country gradually recovers with easing of restrictions following a decline in Omicron cases. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as traders are cautious ahead of the monetary policy announcements from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59280.00, down by 278.33 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 59203.12 and 59557.87. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.46%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.37%, Consumer Durables up by 0.28%, Telecom up by 0.22% and Metal up by 0.16%, while Capital Goods down by 0.94%, IT down by 0.83%, TECK down by 0.69%, Bankex down by 0.38% and Industrials down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 2.62%, ITC up by 1.17%, Asian Paints up by 0.83%, Titan Company up by 0.81% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.56%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.34%, HDFC down by 2.07%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.71%, Infosys down by 1.25% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has asserted that the Union Budget lays the foundation for the country's long-term growth in the next 25 years. Kumar said the government is taking all possible measures to ignite private investments, which will be the best bet to pull the economy out of the shadows of the coronavirus pandemic.

He also said the procedural bottlenecks related to the complicated process of disinvestment of CPSEs (central public sector enterprises) have been solved and the process will be more streamlined in the years to come. Further, regarding the government not achieving its disinvestment target year after year, he said the reason seems to be the complicated process of privatisation.
Noting that Air India was privatised after many years, he said that ‘I think, now we have solved all those procedural bottlenecks. And, the process is now well defined.’

Besides, he said the process will be more streamlined in the years to come. The government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 65,000 crore for the next financial year, which is lower than the current fiscal's estimated mobilization of Rs 78,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17706.60, down by 73.40 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 17679.65 and 17781.15. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.20%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.70%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.50%, Tata Consumer Product up by 1.19% and ITC up by 0.97%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.55%, HDFC down by 2.11%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.75%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.23% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI rose 64.50 points or 2.42% to 2,727.84 and Straits Times advanced 67.44 points or 2.08% to 3,317.03. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 297.80 points or 1.08% to 27,235.80 and Jakarta Composite lost 26.97 points or 0.4% to 6,680.68.