Bourses continue to trade in green territory

The Indian benchmarks continued to trade in green territory on account of buying in front line counters. Indusind Bank, Ultratech Cement and NTPC were the other noticeable gainers. Traders took note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold pre-budget consultations with her state counterparts on Friday. The meeting is part of the customary meetings that the minister undertakes with stakeholders before the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1. In scrip specific development, Kaynes Technology India has debuted at Rs 775.00 on the BSE, up by 188 points or 32.03% from its issue price of Rs 587. Sector wise, steel industry remained in focused after Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said removal of export duty on steel products will lead to a new era of growth for the domestic steel industry which has gained footprint internationally.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as fresh COVID-19 outbreaks and strict pandemic measures stoked concerns that Beijing might slow the reopening of its economy. European markets were trading higher as traders considered potential monetary policy softening, while China’s surging Covid-19 cases posed a risk to the nation’s economic reopening.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61314.43, up by 169.59 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 61073.68 and 61378.86. There were 21 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.22%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.53%, PSU up by 0.42%, FMCG up by 0.39%, Consumer Durables up by 0.35% and Capital Goods was up by 0.33%, while Realty down by 1.34%, Power down by 1.01%, Utilities down by 1.01%, Oil & Gas down by 0.52% and Energy was down by 0.33% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.41%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.41%, NTPC up by 1.03%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.76% and Titan Company up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.70%, Power Grid down by 0.66%, Wipro down by 0.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.41% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the number of beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN scheme has crossed 10 crore, increasing more than three-fold from 3.16 crore farmers covered under the first instalment period in early 2019. PM KISAN through a span of over 3 years has successfully provided assistance of more than Rs 2 lakh crore to crores of needy farmers.  Of this amount, more than Rs 1.6 crore has been transferred since the lockdown due to Covid Pandemic.

PM KISAN Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme to supplement financial needs of land holding farmers.  Financial benefit of Rs 6000 per year is transferred into the bank accounts of farmer families through direct benefit transfer.  Certain categories of higher economic status are excluded from the scheme.

As per the notification released by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the success of this scheme lies in the improvements introduced over time for verification and validation of the farmer details. It also noted that PM KISAN is a major shift in the nature of government support to farmers in India and is one of the finest examples of good governance and use of digital public goods to reach out directly to the citizens.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18210.60, up by 50.65 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 18137.70 and 18228.75. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 2.46%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.44%, NTPC up by 1.09%, Divi's Lab up by 0.95% and UPL up by 0.95%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.27%, Nestle down by 0.78%, Power Grid down by 0.73%, Wipro down by 0.51% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 170.95 points or 0.61% to 28,115.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 92.81 points or 0.64% to 14,542.20, Straits Times advanced 13.20 points or 0.41% to 3,263.82 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.90 points or 0.13% to 3,088.94. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 14.23 points or 0.59% to 2,405.27, Jakarta Composite lost 32.66 points or 0.46% to 7,030.59 and Hang Seng was down by 231.50 points or 1.31% to 17,424.41.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 57.38 points or 0.78% to 7,434.23, France’s CAC increased 12.88 points or 0.19% to 6,647.33 and Germany’s DAX was up by 42.95 points or 0.3% to 14,422.88.