Markets continue sluggish trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their sluggish trade in late afternoon session. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading in red. India VIX was down above two percent. Sentiments remained down-beat after private report stated that E-way bill generation for goods transportation under the goods and services tax (GST) system stood at 6.88 crore in January, down 4% from the previous month, reflecting some slack in trade due to the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid. Sector wise, banking stock remained in focused, as Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad has said that the banks' gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) have declined to Rs 8,00,463 crore (6.93 per cent) as of September 30, 2021 from Rs 9,33,779 crore (GNPA ratio of 9.07 per cent) as on March 31, 2019. Of this, the share of public sector banks (PSBs) in bad loans proportion has also declined 72 per cent against nearly 80 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green though the upside remained capped due to caution over the tightening of U.S. monetary policy. Investors kept an eye on upcoming U.S. inflation data and the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting amid heightened expectations for a half-point interest rate hike by the U.S. central bank in March. European markets were trading higher after the European Central Bank chief eased concerns around faster monetary policy tightening this year, while investors also found comfort in a positive corporate earnings season

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57457.75, down by 163.44 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 57058.77 and 57925.82. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.66%, while Small cap index was down by 1.43%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.81% and Energy was up by 0.44%, while Utilities down by 2.33%, Power down by 2.22%, Capital Goods down by 1.53%, Industrials down by 1.16% and Realty was down by 1.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.33%, Asian Paints up by 0.96%, Reliance Industries up by 0.88%, Titan Company up by 0.82% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.87%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.53%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.43%, HDFC Bank down by 1.30% and SBI down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at 9.2 percent to Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22. He stated that the government has implemented several major reforms in recent years to boost investment and GDP growth.

The minister noted that as per the first advance and first revised estimates of GDP released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the size of real GDP has been increased from Rs 105.3 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 135.6 lakh core in 2020-21 and estimated to be Rs 147.5 lakh crore in 2021-22. In FY 2020-21, he said that as a major part of its policy response to the pandemic, the government while providing a safety net to the vulnerable sections of the society implemented several structural reforms to strengthen private sector investment.

He noted that these include the change in the definition of MSMEs, new PSU policy, commercialisation of coal mining, higher FDI limits in defence and space sector, development of the Land Bank and Industrial Information System. He said it also includes the revamp of the viability gap funding scheme for social infrastructure, new power tariff policy and incentivising states to undertake sector reforms, among others. He added that it also includes the revamp of the viability gap funding scheme for social infrastructure, new power tariff policy and incentivising states to undertake sector reforms, among others.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17162.30, down by 51.30 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 17043.65 and 17306.45. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.41%, JSW Steel up by 1.37%, Divi's Lab up by 1.24%, Cipla up by 1.15% and Reliance Industries up by 0.91%. On the flip side, SBI Life down by 1.93%, Power Grid down by 1.87%, ONGC down by 1.71%, Indian Oil down by 1.55% and Tata Consumer down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 66.26 points or 0.37% to 17,966.56, Straits Times advanced 41.17 points or 1.22% to 3,407.65, Nikkei 225 surged 35.65 points or 0.13% to 27,284.52, Shanghai Composite gained 23.05 points or 0.67% to 3,452.63 and KOSPI was up by 1.41 points or 0.05% to 2,746.47. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 15.42 points or 0.23% to 6,789.52 and Hang Seng was down by 250.06 points or 1.02% to 24,329.49.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 54.43 points or 0.72% to 7,627.90, France’s CAC increased 51.72 points or 0.74% to 7,060.97 and Germany’s DAX was up by 97.30 points or 0.64% to 15,303.94.