Benchmarks manage to keep heads above water

In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks managed to keep their heads above water in late morning deals, despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. Heavy buying at Realty and Industrials counters helped indices to trade higher, while Zomato gained the most among major industry leaders on the BSE.  Sentiments were optimistic, amid reports that the government estimates that the newly announced scheme for first-time entrepreneurs will generate 25 lakh jobs over the next five years in manufacturing, services, and allied agriculture sectors. Further, to create a secure trading environment, markets regulator Sebi proposed to strengthen authentication using a SIM binding mechanism with mobile devices and the client's UCC similar to that of UPI payment applications.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 2.758 trillion yen in January. That missed forecasts for a shortfall of 2.104 trillion yen following the 132.5 billion yen surplus in December. Exports gained 7.2 percent on year to 7.863 trillion yen, shy of expectations for an increase of 7.9 percent following the 2.8 percent gain in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76162.42, up by 195.03 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 75581.38 and 76338.58. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 1.26%, while Small cap index was up by 2.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.64%, Industrials up by 2.60%, Capital Goods up by 2.17%, PSU up by 1.45% and Power up by 1.27%, while TECK down by 0.76%, IT down by 0.60% and Healthcare down by 0.12% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Zomato up by 4.23%, Axis Bank up by 1.89%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.84%, Tata Steel up by 1.23% and Indusind Bank up by 1.07%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.96%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.33%, Infosys down by 1.13%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.02% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that the bilateral trade between India and the UAE grew 21.35 per cent to $80.51 billion during the April-January period this fiscal year. While India's exports to the UAE rose 6.82 per cent to $30 billion during the first 10 months of this fiscal year, imports during this period rose 35.58 per cent to $50.51 billion.

The ministry said the trade is registering healthy growth after implementation of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries in May 2022. The India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is completing three years of its signing on February 18, 2025.

It said in terms of utilisation of CEPA, preferential duties are concerned, since coming into force, nearly 2,40,000 certificates of origin have been issued against which total export of $19.87 billion have been made to the UAE. It also said the agreement has been successful in realising its potential of diversification of trade basket as non-oil trade touched $57.8 billion in 2023-24 accounting for more than half of the total trade. This is attuned to the target of taking bilateral non-oil trade to $100 billion level by 2030. 

At the sectoral level, it said besides refined crude oil products and gems and jewellery products, electrical machinery and equipment, light and medium high technology goods like boilers, generators and reactors and chemicals have been major achievers. Besides, at the product level, smartphones have emerged as a major item of export with shipments valued $2.57 billion bound for the UAE during 2023-24. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22985.90, up by 40.60 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 22814.85 and 23049.95. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 3.31%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.91%, Axis Bank up by 1.87%, Trent up by 1.34% and Tata Steel up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.54%, TCS down by 2.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.34%, Infosys down by 1.13% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 86.96 points or 0.38% to 22,889.85, Jakarta Composite plunged 35.49 points or 0.52% to 6,838.06, Nikkei 225 slipped 106.38 points or 0.27% to 39,164.02 and Taiwan Weighted lost 62.03 points or 0.26% to 23,604.08, while Shanghai Composite strengthened 23.56 points or 0.71% to 3,348.05, Straits Times rose 6.86 points or 0.17% to 3,932.42 and KOSPI increased 45.88 points or 1.72% to 2,672.69.