Markets trade marginally in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally in green in morning deals, led by gains in Oil & Gas, Energy and PSU stocks amid a rebound in global peers. Sentiments remained positive as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data stated India’s services trade surplus shot up to a record $44.9 billion in the October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3) of 2023-24 (FY24), growing 16 per cent year-on-year, showing resilience amid strong global headwinds. This is likely to reduce the current account deficit (CAD) in Q3. However, gains remain capped as provisional data from the NSE showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,929.60 crore on February 14, 2024. Sectorally, defence industry related stocks remained in watch as procurement of goods and services by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) through public buying platform GeM has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, with about half of it coming in the current financial year. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green ahead of a slew of U.S. data due later in the day that could offer fresh insights into the Fed's rate trajectory.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71888.89, up by 66.06 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 71644.44 and 72090.49. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 1.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.48%, Energy up by 2.21%, PSU up by 2.07%, Utilities up by 1.77% and Metal up by 1.52%, while Bankex down by 0.24%, FMCG down by 0.12%, Healthcare down by 0.04% and Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.89%, NTPC up by 1.65%, HDFC Bank up by 1.52%, Wipro up by 1.16% and Tata Steel up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.13%, ICICI Bank down by 1.05%, Sun Pharma down by 0.94% and Nestle down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, 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. In March 2023, 57 memorandum of understandings (MoUs) were signed for generating an investment of about Rs 29,500 crore in the sector by FY28.

Further, it stated the scheme envisaged addition of 25 MT capacity for producing specialty steel grades and generating about 17,000 employment opportunities. It said as many as 5 units set up as part of the PLI scheme have begun production, and 9 more units are expected to begin production in this quarter.

On the status of the scheme, the ministry said ‘as of December 2023, the selected companies have already invested about Rs 12,900 crore against an investment commitment of Rs 21,000 crore up to the current financial year.’ It is expected that another Rs 3,000 crore will be invested by these companies during FY24.

The ministry envisages an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in FY25. Besides, it said that investments in the steel sector have a long gestation period and depend on factors like procurement of various equipment, many of which are sourced from abroad.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21871.05, up by 31.00 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 21794.80 and 21923.25. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.90%, BPCL up by 3.50%, ONGC up by 3.42%, Coal India up by 2.24% and NTPC up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.93%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.28%, ICICI Bank down by 1.08%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.93% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 360.36 points or 0.96% to 38,063.68, Taiwan Weighted added 524.69 points or 2.9% to 18,620.76, Hang Seng advanced 68.25 points or 0.43% to 15,947.63, Straits Times rose 28.31 points or 0.9% to 3,167.38 and Jakarta Composite gained 126.79 points or 1.76% to 7,336.53.

On the flip side, KOSPI dropped 4.32 points or 0.16% to 2,616.10.