Sensex, Nifty stage smart recovery in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks staged a smart recovery in early afternoon deals, aided by buying at Metal, Consumer Durables and Basic Materials counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. Bajaj Finserv gained the most among major industry players on the BSE, followed by Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro. Investors got some relief, after Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada said that the Government has put in place a policy framework for Foreign Direct Investment that is transparent, predictable, and easily comprehensible. Besides, he said to promote FDI, the Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy, wherein most sectors, except certain strategically important sectors, are open for 100% FDI under the automatic route. More than 90% of the FDI inflow is received under the automatic route.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Japan's machine tool orders increased for the fourth straight month in January, though the pace of growth eased sharply since December. The preliminary data from the Japan Machine Tool Builders Association, or JMTBA, showed that machine tool orders climbed 4.7 percent year-on-year in January, following a 12.6 percent surge in the previous month. Domestic demand was 4.5 percent higher in January compared to last year, and foreign orders rose by 4.7 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76026.01, down by 267.59 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 75388.39 and 76409.27. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.76%, while Small cap index was down by 0.91%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.57%, Consumer Durables up by 0.08% and Basic Materials up by 0.07%, while Realty down by 1.62%, Power down by 0.97%, Energy down by 0.86%, Oil & Gas down by 0.76% and Auto down by 0.73% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 1.63%, Tata Steel up by 1.46%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.29%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.86% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.42%, Reliance Industries down by 1.79%, Power Grid down by 1.78%, ITC down by 1.65% and Indusind Bank down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the government has employed artificial intelligence (AI) to address various challenges in the agriculture sector and aid farmers. The government is leveraging technology to strengthen implementation of various agricultural schemes.

Chouhan said 'Kisan e-Mitra', an AI-powered chatbot, has been developed to assist farmers with responses to queries about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. This solution supports multiple languages and is evolving to assist with other government programmes. Under the PM-KISAN, the government provides financial support of Rs 6,000 per annum to eligible farmers in three equal installments.

The minister further said AI and Machine Learning are used under the National Pest Surveillance System to detect pest infestation in crop issues, enabling timely intervention for healthier crops. AI-based analytics using field photographs for crop health assessment and crop health monitoring using satellite, weather and soil moisture data sets for rice and wheat crops. An AI-based chatbot, namely 'PMFBY WhatsApp Chatbot', to assist the farmers regarding crop insurance scheme PMFBY has been initiated. Leveraging technology, he said the government has implemented technology-based yield estimation in combination with conventional Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) based yield estimation for improving crop loss assessment and achieving timely insurance claims payout for farmers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23016.80, down by 55.00 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 22798.35 and 23097.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 2.72%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.35%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.13%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.70% and Adani Enterprises up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.47%, Bharat Electronics down by 2.00%, Reliance Industries down by 1.80%, Power Grid down by 1.76% and ITC down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 506.9 points or 2.38% to 21,801.76, Jakarta Composite gained 68.51 points or 1.05% to 6,600.50, Shanghai Composite strengthened 25.65 points or 0.77% to 3,343.71, KOSPI increased 9.34 points or 0.37% to 2,548.39 and Nikkei 225 surged 162.53 points or 0.42% to 38,963.70, while Straits Times fell 0.04 points or 0% to 3,860.72 and Taiwan Weighted lost 94.3 points or 0.4% to 23,289.75.