Sensex, Nifty trade firm in early deals amid easing retail inflation

Indian equity benchmarks made a flat-to-positive start on Thursday amid mixed global cues and mixed macroeconomic data on domestic front. Traders took note of report that U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Russia will immediately begin negotiations toward ending the Ukraine conflict. Soon, Sensex and Nifty gained traction and are trading firm with gains of over half a percent each in early deals led by buying in all the sector indices. Sentiments got a boost as India’s retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), for January stood at 4.31 per cent, dropping significantly from 5.22 per cent in December. Traders overlooked the government data showing India’s industrial production growth, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) eased to 3.2% in December, down from a 6-month high of 5.2% in the previous month.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. consumer price inflation raised speculation the US Fed will leave interest rates on hold for a prolonged period. Back home, International Energy Agency said India’s natural gas consumption is forecast to increase by nearly 60 per cent by 2030, driven by robust growth in city gas distribution, industrial demand, and power generation. In stock specific development, Godrej Industries climbed after rise in Q3 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76557.77, up by 386.69 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 76013.43 and 76564.14. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.81%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.61%, Realty up by 1.47%, Utilities up by 1.26%, PSU up by 1.24% and Telecom up by 1.21%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.81%, Tata Steel up by 2.53%, Zomato up by 2.12%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.91% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.20%, TCS down by 0.18%, Infosys down by 0.15%, HDFC Bank down by 0.07% and SBI down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that large states can be split so that new cities can emerge, giving impetus to urbanisation. According to him, if India is going to grow at 8 per cent, then the urban population is going to grow more rapidly than cities' infrastructure. Ahluwalia said 'We should seriously consider cutting down many of the largest states into two or three.’ He stated ‘Gandhiji said India lives in its villages, and many people still regard that as a sort of romantic vision. But I don't think he said India will continue to do so 100 years later.’

He said picking up some tier-2 towns and developing them into near-metros is the solution for over-saturated cities like Bengaluru, for instance. He said even though there ought to be spilling over into other cities, this does not happen organically. He added ‘The only known cases in India where this happens is when a new state is carved out and a capital has to be created.’

Ahluwalia recalled former UP Chief Minister and BSP leader Mayawati had suggested splitting her state into three. Moreover, he said ‘Had this been done, there would have been a political willingness instantly to create three new good cities.’ He also pointed out that people have said this could be done in many other states. Besides, he said In Maharashtra, for example, there are people who said the Vidarbha region should be made a separate state with Nagpur as its capital. While stating that tough decisions such as this are not politically easy, he said change happens only with interesting reforms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23173.30, up by 128.05 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 22992.20 and 23174.65. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.94%, Tata Steel up by 2.57%, Cipla up by 2.46%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.20% and Bajaj Finance up by 2.10%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.49%, TCS down by 0.27%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.15%, HDFC Bank down by 0.10% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 568.99 points or 1.44% to 39,532.69, Hang Seng advanced 333.09 points or 1.5% to 22,191.01, Taiwan Weighted added 69.01 points or 0.3% to 23,358.76 and KOSPI increased 29.88 points or 1.16% to 2,578.27. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite lost 59.72 points or 0.91% to 6,586.06, Shanghai Composite weakened 4.17 points or 0.12% to 3,342.22 and Straits Times was down by 1.83 points or 0.05% to 3,872.79.