Positive momentum continues over Dalal Street

A positive momentum continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, on the back of heavy buying at Utilities and Power counters, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were positive, amid a private report stating that the food inflation in India likely fell below 5 per cent for the first time since June 2023. The report also noted that the India's overall retail inflation is expected to have slowed down further in February 2025, falling below the 4 per cent mark, primarily due to a decline in vegetable prices.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as Japan's leading index increased less-than-expected in January to the highest level in three months. The preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, rose to 108.0 in January from a downwardly revised 107.9 in December. The score was forecast to increase to 108.4. Likewise, the coincident index that measures the current economic situation came in at 116.2, up from 116.1 in the previous month.

Back home, sugar mills stocks were in focus, as Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, has notified a scheme for CSMs under modified Ethanol Interest Subvention Scheme for Conversion of their existing sugarcane-based feedstock ethanol plants into multi-feedstock based plants to use grains like Maize and Damaged Food Grains (DFG).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74574.02, up by 241.44 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 74156.00 and 74741.25. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.06%, while Small cap index was down by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.15%, Power up by 1.38%, Metal up by 1.08%, FMCG up by 0.86% and Telecom up by 0.62%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.80%, Industrials down by 0.72%, Oil & Gas down by 0.49%, Capital Goods down by 0.48% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.99%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.86%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.56% and Nestle up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.97%, Zomato down by 1.06%, Titan Co down by 1.06%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.79% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $986 per tonne for five years on a chemical, used for water treatment, imported from China and Japan to protect the domestic industry from cheap inbound shipments. The decision follows recommendations from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an investigation arm of the commerce ministry, to impose the duty on 'Trichloro isocyanuric acid'.

In its recommendations, the directorate has stated that the domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumped imports in India from China and Japan. The anti-dumping duty imposed shall be levied for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier). Both the countries are key trading partners of India. While DGTR conducts the alleged dumping probe and recommends the duty, the finance ministry takes the final decision to impose the same within three months of the recommendation.

Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to check if their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a countermeasure, they impose duties within the multilateral regime of the WTO (World Trade Organisation). Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. It is not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in the cost of products. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22626.10, up by 73.60 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 22498.65 and 22676.75. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.91%, Hindalco up by 2.57%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.50%, JSW Steel up by 2.00% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.94%, Trent down by 2.33%, Eicher Motors down by 1.11%, ONGC down by 1.07% and Titan down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 474.12 points or 1.96% to 23,757.18, Jakarta Composite plunged 43.34 points or 0.66% to 6,592.66, Shanghai Composite weakened 16.85 points or 0.5% to 3,355.70, Straits Times fell 11.72 points or 0.3% to 3,902.76 and Taiwan Weighted lost 116.92 points or 0.52% to 22,459.15, while KOSPI increased 8.61 points or 0.34% to 2,572.09 and Nikkei 225 surged 182.72 points or 0.5% to 37,069.89.