Sensex, Nifty turn negative in early noon deals

Erasing all of their gains, Indian equity benchmarks turned negative in early afternoon deals, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious amid reports that the RBI is likely to for one more rate hike in its next monetary policy committee meeting in April, as India’s headline inflation continues to be sticky at around 6 percent and the central bank also keeping its eye on the rupee stability along with uncertainty in the US markets and Fed impending decision. Some worries came with a private report stating that India's banking sector will likely have a softer impact from the troubles at Credit Suisse, given the Swiss lender's relatively small presence in the country.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, after Japan's tertiary activity increased more-than-expected in January after falling in the previous month. The data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry showed that the seasonally adjusted tertiary activity index rose 0.9 percent month-on-month in January, reversing a 0.4 percent fall in December.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57565.60, down by 69.24 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 57526.96 and 58178.94. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.27%, Realty up by 1.22%, TECK up by 0.93%, Capital Goods up by 0.92% and Metal up by 0.80%, while Auto down by 0.66%, FMCG down by 0.60%, Bankex down by 0.29%, Oil & Gas down by 0.27% and PSU down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 3.62%, Nestle up by 1.94%, Infosys up by 1.87%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.34% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.26%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.12%, NTPC down by 1.09%, Sun Pharma down by 1.08%, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.84% and Axis Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has approved the capital acquisition of indigenously-developed military hardware worth Rs 70,584 crore as part of a mega procurement plan that is expected to significantly boost domestic defence manufacturing. The approval to the procurement proposals was accorded by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The go-ahead to the fresh procurement proposals came amid the nearly three-year-long standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh with China. The DAC accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition amounting to Rs 70,584 crore and all the procurement will be made under the Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category.

The total approval granted for capital acquisition in the financial year 2022-23 now stands at Rs 2,71,538 crore, of which 98.9 per cent will be sourced from Indian industries. Such quantum of indigenous procurement will not only galvanize the Indian industries towards achieving the goal of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) but also reduce India's dependency on foreign vendors to a large extent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16978.60, down by 7.00 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 16963.60 and 17145.80. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 3.67%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.41%, Infosys up by 2.02%, Nestle up by 1.89% and Tata Consumer Products up by 1.64%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.08%, Eicher Motors down by 1.99%, NTPC down by 1.31%, BPCL down by 1.21% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.14% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 323.18 points or 1.18% to 27,333.79, Hang Seng advanced 237.32 points or 1.24% to 19,441.23, Taiwan Weighted added 231.84 points or 1.5% to 15,452.96, Jakarta Composite gained 105.93 points or 1.61% to 6,671.66, Straits Times rose 21.38 points or 0.68% to 3,176.92, Shanghai Composite strengthened 20.13 points or 0.62% to 3,247.02 and KOSPI increased 17.78 points or 0.74% to 2,395.69.