Sensex, Nifty off day’s high in early noon deals

Trimming some of their gains, Indian equity benchmarks came off their intraday high points in early afternoon deals, however, trade remained firm over the Dalal Street, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at all sectors. Power Grid gained the most among major industry players on the BSE, followed by NTPC and Infosys. Sentiments remained optimistic, as Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan lauded the Interim Budget 2024-25 as a stepping stone to make India a developed country by 2047. He also said that the Budget positions India for incremental all-round development across sectors.

Adding more comfort among traders, the Union Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has said that this budget is a mirror of the guarantee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while rapidly paving the way for India on the path of development. He said that this interim budget is a reflection of the progress of the country's farmers, poor, women power and youth power as Modi government has pledged for their development. He said that the various measures taken by the Modi government will definitely raise the standard of living of farmers.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after the monetary base in Japan was up 4.8 percent on year in January, coming in at 668.019 trillion yen. That was well shy of expectations for an increase of 7.5 percent and down from 8.2 percent in December. Banknotes in circulation fell 0.4 percent on year, while coins in circulation slumped 1.9 percent. Current account balances climbed 6.1 percent, including a 5.7 percent gain in reserve balances. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72266.14, up by 620.84 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 71977.56 and 73089.40. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.93%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 3.36%, Energy up by 2.81%, PSU up by 2.69%, Utilities up by 2.37% and Power up by 2.16%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 5.08%, NTPC up by 2.61%, Infosys up by 2.52%, TCS up by 2.19% and Wipro up by 2.02%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 0.43%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.21%, Axis Bank down by 0.03% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government data has indicated that India's power consumption grew nearly six per cent to 133.83 Billion Units (BU) in January 2024 as compared to the year-ago period. In January 2023, power consumption stood at 126.30 BU, higher than 111.80 BU recorded in the same month a year ago.

The peak power demand met -- the highest supply in a day -- rose to 222.32 GW in January 2024. The peak power supply stood at 210.72 GW in January 2023 and 192.18 GW in January 2022.

The power ministry had estimated the country's electricity demand to touch 229 GW during the summer in 2023. The demand did not reach the projected level in April-July due to unseasonal rains. The peak supply, however, touched a new high of 224.1 GW in June before dropping to 209.03 GW in July. Peak demand touched 238.82 GW in August. In September 2023, it was 243.27 GW. The peak demand was 222.16 GW in October, 204.77 GW in November and 213.62 GW in December 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21937.10, up by 239.65 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 21812.00 and 22126.80. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 8.57%, Power Grid up by 5.12%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 3.76% and ONGC up by 3.35%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.35%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.93%, HDFC Bank down by 0.41%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.16% and Axis Bank down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 24.55 points or 0.16% to 15,590.76, Taiwan Weighted added 91.82 points or 0.51% to 18,059.93, Straits Times rose 38.54 points or 1.23% to 3,181.60, KOSPI increased 72.85 points or 2.79% to 2,615.31 and Nikkei 225 surged 146.56 points or 0.41% to 36,158.02, while Jakarta Composite plunged 9.23 points or 0.13% to 7,192.47 and Shanghai Composite weakened 27.58 points or 1% to 2,743.16.