Indian markets back in green in early noon deals

Erasing all of their losses, Indian equity benchmarks came back in green in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading marginally Higher, aided by heavy buying at Realty, Metal and Basic Materials counters, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were positive, as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest Bulletin said that fresh round of capital expenditure by the corporate sector is likely to fuel the next leg of growth. It stressed that stable and low inflation at 4 per cent provides the bedrock for sustaining GDP expansion. Besides, the Government of Japan has committed Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of an amount of Japanese Yen (JPY) 232.209 billion for nine projects across various sectors in India such as road connectivity, climate change response, horticulture and water supply system. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 1,758.3 billion yen in January. That beat forecasts for a shortfall of 1,925.9 billion yen following the 62.1 billion yen surplus in December. Exports climbed 11.9 percent on year to 7.332 trillion yen - beating forecasts for an increase of 9.5 percent and up from 9.8 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73123.23, up by 65.83 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 72930.84 and 73267.80. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.52%, Metal up by 1.29%, Basic Materials up by 1.05%, Telecom up by 0.79% and FMCG up by 0.51%, while Utilities down by 0.72%, IT down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.47%, Power down by 0.29% and Oil & Gas down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 3.23%, Tata Steel up by 3.15%, SBI up by 1.94%, ICICI Bank up by 0.84% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.07%, Infosys down by 1.20%, HCL Tech. down by 1.05%, Axis Bank down by 0.87% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a labour ministry in its latest data has said that Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has added 15.62 lakh net members to the employment payroll in December 2023. This is an increase of 11.97 per cent in the net addition during December 2023 as compared to the previous month of November 2023. In November 2023, EPFO added 13.95 lakh net members.  

According to the data, this surge in membership can be attributed to various factors, including increased employment opportunities, a growing awareness of employee benefits, and the effectiveness of EPFO's outreach programmes. It showed that around 8.41 lakh new members were enrolled in December 2023, up by 14.21 per cent compared with the previous month of November 2023.

The payroll data further stated that a noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 57.18 per cent of the total new members added in December. It highlighted that approximately 12.02 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection. 

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is the highest in the five states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute around 58.33 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month. Of the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 21.63 per cent of net members during the month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22216.60, up by 19.65 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 22160.80 and 22249.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.23%, JSW Steel up by 3.18%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.03%, SBI up by 1.97% and Hindalco up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 2.07%, BPCL down by 1.76%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.45%, Coal India down by 1.33% and LTIMindtree down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 76.85 points or 0.41% to 18,676.31, Jakarta Composite plunged 44.97 points or 0.62% to 7,307.63, Straits Times fell 18.24 points or 0.57% to 3,225.82, KOSPI dropped 4.48 points or 0.17% to 2,653.31 and Nikkei 225 slipped 101.45 points or 0.27% to 38,262.16, while Hang Seng advanced 325.52 points or 1.96% to 16,573.03 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 30.45 points or 1.03% to 2,953.18.