Markets trade flat in early deals on Thursday

Domestic equity markets have made a positive start but are trading flat in early morning session on Thursday on account of selling in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Nestle companies’ stocks. Traders were cautious as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,929.60 crore on February 14, provisional data from the NSE showed. However, falling crude oil prices and U.S. Treasury yields supported the domestic sentiments. Traders took a note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to review the state of the economy amid global challenges at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on February 21. In the meeting, the Finance Minister will review the current global and domestic economic situation and financial stability issues.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following positive cues from global markets overnight. The US markets ended higher on Wednesday. The rebound on markets partly reflected bargain hunting, with some traders seeing the sharp pullback on Tuesday as a buying opportunity amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for the markets.  Back home, there were some buzz in steel industry related stocks as the Ministry of Steel has said that about Rs 12,900 crore has already been invested in the domestic steel sector under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71896.28, up by 73.45 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 71698.00 and 72090.49. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index up by 1.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.07%, Power up by 1.68%, PSU up by 1.57%, Metal up by 1.56% and Oil & Gas up by 1.34%, while Bankex down by 0.41% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.59%, NTPC up by 1.63%, Tata Steel up by 1.10%, Wipro up by 1.00% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.38%, Axis Bank down by 1.21%, ICICI Bank down by 0.89%, Nestle down by 0.83% and Indusind Bank down by 0.75% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is reportedly scheduled to review the state of the economy amid global challenges at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on February 21. This would be the first meeting of the FSDC after the passage of the Rs 47.6 lakh crore Budget for 2024-25, focussing on capital expenditure with an outlay of Rs 11.11 lakh crore.

She is likely to stress key priorities highlighted in the interim Budget, the way forward for various future policies and measures that the government has proposed to take in many sectors. Besides, the council may also review the progress of measures approved earlier for further development of the financial sector, and to achieve inclusive economic growth with macroeconomic stability.

The FSDC meeting will also review activities undertaken by the FSDC sub-committee chaired by the RBI governor and the action taken by members on the past decisions of FSDC.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21825.55, down by 14.50 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 21823.20 and 21923.25. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.98%, BPCL up by 2.51%, NTPC up by 1.39%, UPL up by 1.33% and Wipro up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.46%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.36%, ICICI Bank down by 1.08%, Nestle down by 1.01% and Cipla down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 77.26 points or 0.49% to 15,956.64, Nikkei 225 surged 386.94 points or 1.03% to 38,090.26, Taiwan Weighted added 560.53 points or 3.1% to 18,656.60, Straits Times rose 26.58 points or 0.85% to 3,165.65 and Jakarta Composite gained 121.28 points or 1.68% to 7,331.02. However, KOSPI dropped 1.21 points or 0.05% to 2,619.21.