Sensex, Nifty back in green in late noon deals

In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks managed to come back in green in late afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher, despite negative cues from European markets. Buying at Consumer Durables and Consumer Discretionary counters helped indices to stage recovery. Traders were optimistic, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that all major rating agencies are of the opinion that India will be among three largest economies in the world in next few years. Some support came with a private report stating that the IPO and deal-making activities are likely to be brisk this year and may even surpass the record set in 2021 with around USD 50 billion funds being raised across equity issuances and deals.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower, as UK retail sales growth weakened in December despite the festive season. The data from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed that retail sales grew only 1.7 percent on a yearly basis in December, which was slower than the 6.9 percent expansion posted in the same period last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71497.68, up by 111.47 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 71110.98 and 71498.83. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.51%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.30%, Industrials up by 0.30%, Bankex up by 0.24% and Metal up by 0.14%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.88%, PSU down by 0.72%, Energy down by 0.54%, FMCG down by 0.49% and Realty down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL up by 1.68%, ICICI Bank up by 1.31%, Tata Motors up by 1.06%, Reliance Industries up by 1.05% and Indusind Bank up by 1.03%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.39%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.20%, Power Grid down by 1.11%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.92% and Infosys down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, underlining reforms taken by the Union government for ease of governance and ease of delivery of services, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance reforms have helped in mainstreaming the Northeast (NE). Path-breaking decisions were taken by this government for the development of Northeast, that are visible in the quality of life of the people of this region. He also said 'Northeast today is being cited as an example of Modi’s development model.'

Union Minister asserted that the regional conference on e-Governance serves as an important platform to transfer knowledge and practices that can be mutually beneficial. Under the leadership of Prime Minister, the government is taking several strides in the field of IT and new age technologies for better delivery of good governance to citizens.

Besides, Singh said 'fulfilment of the objective of self-reliant India that requires working towards Vision 2047, which includes major parts of technological enhancements and drawing optimum solutions, our focus would be developing capabilities of officers during early years of their career, so that they have about 20-25 years to contribute towards building a glorious and self-reliant India during Amrit Kaal of next 25 years.'

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21563.05, up by 18.20 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 21448.65 and 21573.90. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.73%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.65%, HCL up by 1.73%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.44% and ICICI Bank up by 1.26%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.70%, Divi's Lab down by 2.53%, NTPC down by 2.31%, BPCL down by 2.17% and Coal India down by 1.62% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 20.97 points or 0.27% to 7,662.99, France’s CAC fell 8.58 points or 0.12% to 7,418.04 and Germany’s DAX decreased 18.75 points or 0.11% to 16,669.61.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 92.74 points or 0.58% to 16,097.28, Taiwan Weighted lost 69.86 points or 0.4% to 17,465.63, Straits Times fell 20.96 points or 0.66% to 3,177.00, KOSPI dropped 19.26 points or 0.76% to 2,541.98 and Shanghai Composite weakened 15.55 points or 0.54% to 2,877.70, while Jakarta Composite gained 30.09 points or 0.42% to 7,230.29 and Nikkei 225 surged 678.54 points or 1.97% to 34,441.72.