Markets maintain gains in early noon session

Indian equity indices maintained their gains in early noon session as market participants indulged in enlarging their positions. There was broad based buying witnessed in the markets and apart from the blue chips, the broader markets too participated in the rally. Hectic buying in Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma helped the markets to maintain their gains. Positive cues from the US markets overnight also supported domestic sentiments. Falling crude oil prices also supported sentiments. Besides, traders were getting encouragement as the next round of talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Oman will start from January 16 and the negotiations for the pact are progressing well. On the BSE sectoral front, all the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in green led by Capital Goods, Power, Industrials, IT and Auto. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed despite positive cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) tanked as Sony Group is reportedly planning to call off the merger pact of its India unit with the company.   

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71959.94, up by 604.72 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 71622.11 and 72007.76. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.51%, while Small cap index up by 0.84%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.58%, Power up by 1.57%, Industrials up by 1.40%, IT up by 1.34% and Auto up by 1.16%, while there were no losers.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.20%, Infosys up by 1.74%, HCL up by 1.64%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.48% and Sun Pharma up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.06%, Asian Paints down by 0.33% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.18% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, a research report by the State Bank of India (SBI) has said that the repeated argument that India witnessed a K-shaped recovery post-pandemic is ‘flawed, prejudiced, and ill-concocted’. It said post-pandemic, households are reconfiguring their savings towards physical assets, including real estate. According to the report, the oft-repeated conundrum debating a K-shaped recovery post-pandemic seems at best flawed, prejudiced, ill-concocted and fanning interests of select quarters to whom India's remarkable ascendance, signalling more the renaissance of the new global south, is quite unpalatable. K-shaped recovery reflects uneven recovery where certain sectors of the economy thrives while other sectors continue to decline or struggle to recover. 

It further said post-pandemic, there has been two-way shift between savings channelised into physical assets from financial assets in consonance with the global trend to take advantage of lower interest rates. However, it said, recent data shows that there is a shift towards financial assets since 2023 onwards. It also said Gini coefficient estimated using ITR data of taxable income of individuals shows that individual income inequality has significantly declined from 0.472 to 0.402 during FY14-FY22. There is a change in income pattern of MSMEs, too, reflecting the changing contours of industry/services as formalisation drive brings more entities into the net.

The report further said around 19.5 per cent of majorly micro-sized firms have been able to shift their income upwards, to classify them into small, medium and large-sized firms. Of these, it said, 4.8 per cent firms have transitioned themselves into small firms, around 6.1 per cent firms transitioned into medium-sized firms, and around 9.3 per cent firms are transitioned into large-sized firms. This clearly indicates MSME units are getting bigger and getting integrated into larger value chains with initiatives like Production Linked Incentive (PLI). 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21692.15, up by 179.15 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 21594.45 and 21713.40. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.00%, Adani Ports up by 2.84%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.30%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.94% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.11%, Asian Paints down by 0.47%, ONGC down by 0.34%, Britannia down by 0.31% and UPL down by 0.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 8.59 points or 0.05% to 16,233.04, Nikkei 225 surged 385.76 points or 1.14% to 33,763.18, Straits Times rose 15.41 points or 0.48% to 3,202.43. However, Taiwan Weighted lost 37.17 points or 0.21% to 17,535.49, KOSPI dropped 7.09 points or 0.28% to 2,560.73, Shanghai Composite weakened 4.24 points or 0.15% to 2,883.30 and Jakarta Composite plunged 78.38 points or 1.09% to 7,205.20.