Key gauges continue to trade marginally in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in green in morning deals, led by gains in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Realty stocks. Traders took a note of Assocham’s statement that India's economy is expected to navigate rough global weather in 2023 due to resilient consumer demand, better corporate performance and abating of inflation, even as the year is likely to be full of challenges and opportunities. However, gains remain capped as some concern came as the IMF chief said a third of the global economy will be in recession this year, and warned that 2023 will be tougher than last year as the US, EU and China will see their economies slow down. Meanwhile, the government has proposed a self-regulatory mechanism, mandatory verification of players and physical Indian address for online gaming companies. According to the draft online gaming rules, online gaming companies will be covered under the new IT rules that were issued in 2021 for social media platforms.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green on broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. However, traders remain concerned aggressive monetary policy moves by global central banks this year also could tip the global economy into recession.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61269.59, up by 101.80 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 61004.04 and 61290.06. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.74%, Telecom up by 0.58%, Realty up by 0.50%, PSU up by 0.49% and Bankex up by 0.49%, while Metal down by 0.54%, Energy down by 0.10% and Oil & Gas down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.44%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.21%, Axis Bank up by 0.93%, TCS up by 0.62% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.80%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.45%, Reliance Industries down by 0.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.26% and HDFC down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said online gaming companies will not be allowed to engage in betting on the outcome of games under the principle laid in draft rules.  The minister said that as of now, all permissible online gaming will need to be registered with a self-regulatory organisation that will be accountable to the online gaming rules.

He mentioned ‘As per the principles laid under the rule, wagering on the outcome of game will not be allowed. All online gaming companies will have to register with the self-regulatory body that will decide on the action required to be taken as per the rules.’

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has published draft rules for online gaming companies and has invited comments on the same by January 17. Chandrasekhar said the objective of the rule is to grow the online gaming sector and encourage innovation. He said that he expects the online gaming rules to be ready in early February.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18221.10, up by 23.65 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 18149.80 and 18235.60. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 3.00%, Indusind Bank up by 1.51%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.36%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.95% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 0.88%, JSW Steel down by 0.79%, Hindalco down by 0.67%, ONGC down by 0.50% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 258.83 points or 1.31% to 20,040.24, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 85.27 points or 0.6% to 14,222.96, Shanghai Composite gained 17.34 points or 0.56% to 3,106.60 and Jakarta Composite soared 38.34 points or 0.56% to 6,889.32.

On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 19.25 points or 0.59% to 3,232.07 and KOSPI fell 5.11 points or 0.23% to 2,220.56.