Markets trade near neutral lines with positive territory

Domestic equity indices traded near neutral lines with positive territory in afternoon deals on account of buying in Wipro, ICICI Bank and Titan stocks. Sentiments got some support as solid quarterly earnings reports form Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. However, mixed cues from global markets weighted on the domestic sentiments. Traders were cautious as the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said certain methods used by Western economies during the Covid-19 pandemic caused global economic stress as an after-effect. She said many of the Western developed economies adopted that method -- like printing more currency and distributing it among people -- in dealing with the stress in their economies. On the sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up positon in Realty, Bankex, PSU, Consumer Durables and IT, while selling was witnessed in Telecom, Healthcare, Utilities, Capital Goods and Power.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, ahead of a busy week of key economic releases in the region. New Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold his first monetary policy meeting later this week. The central bank is said to plan to review and inspect policies taken over the past decades during the meeting. Back home, in the stock specific development, Yes Bank fell as it reported a 45 percent decline in Q4 profit on higher provisions.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59662.61, up by 7.55 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 59620.11 and 59958.33. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.32%, Bankex up by 0.56%, PSU up by 0.56%, Consumer Durables up by 0.38% and IT up by 0.19%, while Telecom down by 0.69%, Healthcare down by 0.69%, Utilities down by 0.59% and Capital Goods down by 0.51%, Power down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.05%, ICICI Bank up by 1.52%, Titan up by 1.23%, SBI up by 1.04% and Axis Bank up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.18%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.12%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.08% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government is expected to announce a national retail trade policy and an accident insurance scheme soon with a view to supporting GST-registered domestic traders. The proposed policy would help provide better infrastructure and more credit to the traders. It may include provisions related to ensuring easy and quick access to affordable credit, facilitating modernization and digitisation of retail trade; modern infrastructural support for subjects like distribution chain; promotion of skill development and improving labour productivity, and providing an effective consultative and grievance redressal mechanism.

India is the world's fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. The commerce and industry ministry along with the department of financial services is also working on framing an insurance scheme for all the GST-registered retail traders. The government is trying to do policy changes not only in e-commerce but is also bringing a national retail trade policy for physical traders which will be introducing ease of doing business, providing better infrastructural facilities, providing more credit and all sorts of benefits to traders.

Under the proposed policy, a single window clearance mechanism for traders may be developed, besides a centralised and computerized inspection management system.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17625.25, up by 1.20 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 17612.50 and 17709.20. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 4.11%, Tata Consumer up by 3.56%, Wipro up by 2.08%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.81% and ICICI Bank up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.25%, Sun Pharma down by 2.05%, SBI Life down by 1.35%, Cipla down by 1.34% and UPL down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 275.11 points or 1.37% to 19,800.62, Shanghai Composite weakened 21.59 points or 0.65% to 3,279.67, KOSPI dropped 22.66 points or 0.89% to 2,521.74 and Straits Times fell 4.74 points or 0.14% to 3,317.08. However, Taiwan Weighted added 23.88 points or 0.15% to 15,626.87 and Nikkei 225 surged 29.15 points or 0.1% to 28,593.52.