Sensex, Nifty give up opening gains to trade flat with negative bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Wednesday tracking gains in Asian counterparts. But, soon markets lost their ground and slipped below neutral lines. Sensex and Nifty were trading flat with negative bias in early deals amid selling in IT, Realty and Power stocks. Market participants opted to book some profits after three days of gains on optimism surrounding an interim trade agreement with the United States. However, downside remained capped amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 69.45 crore on Tuesday. Traders took note of report that Government survey showed that the rate of unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above in cities declined marginally to 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025 from 6.9 per cent in the previous quarter.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher as investors assessed soft Chinese inflation figures. China’s National Bureau of Statistics data showed that the country’s consumer price index rose 0.2% in January from a year earlier. However, gains were capped as traders remained cautious ahead of closely watched U.S. jobs data later in the day that could reshape expectations for Federal Reserve interest rates. Meanwhile, the Japanese stock market is closed for National Founding Day on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84211.35, down by 62.57 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 84173.72 and 84487.34. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.60%, Healthcare up by 0.48%, Consumer Disc up by 0.46% and Consumer Durables up by 0.24%, while IT down by 0.74%, Realty down by 0.68%, Power down by 0.67%, TECK down by 0.63% and Capital Goods down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.88%, Titan Company up by 1.34%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.95%, Tata Steel up by 0.63% and SBI up by 0.32%. On the flip side, Trent down by 0.87%, HCL Technologies down by 0.84%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.69%, TCS down by 0.65% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the National Statistics Office (NSO) in its quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has showed that the rate of unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above in cities declined marginally to 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025 from 6.9 per cent in the previous quarter. In rural areas, the unemployment rate (UR) or joblessness among those aged 15 years and above declined to 4 per cent in October-December 2025 from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter (July-September 2025), helped by lower unemployment rates among rural males as well as females.

The urban unemployment rate for the 15-year-old and above decreased to 6.7 per cent as compared to 6.9 per cent reported in the preceding quarter. The lower rate of unemployment was driven by a decline in urban male UR from 6.2 per cent during July-September, 2025, to 5.9 per cent in the quarter under review. Both rural and urban UR among persons aged 15 years and above declined during October-December 2025. The proportion of self-employed persons aged 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 63.2 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 62.8 per cent recorded in the July-September quarter. In urban areas, the share of self-employed persons of the same age group stood at 39.7 per cent during the quarter ending December 2025, compared to 39.3 per cent recorded in July-September 2025.

About the concentration of rural workforce in the primary sector and urban workforce in the tertiary sector, the data showed that rural areas maintained a similar pattern, with a majority of workers engaged in the agriculture sector, accounting for 58.5 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 57.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter. In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained stable, engaging 61.9 per cent of workers during October-December 2025.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25929.85, down by 5.30 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 25923.50 and 26009.40. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 6.57%, Apollo Hospital up by 5.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.99%, Max Healthcare Inst up by 1.71% and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles up by 1.44%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.89%, Coal India down by 1.73%, Hindalco down by 1.28%, HCL Technologies down by 1.06% and Grasim Industries down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted jumped 597.59 points or 1.81% to 33,670.56, Hang Seng surged 119.85 points or 0.44% to 27,303.00, Jakarta Composite rose 112.64 points or 1.39% to 8,244.38, KOSPI increased 63.51 points or 1.2% to 5,365.20, Straits Times gained 16.44 points or 0.33% to 4,980.69 and Shanghai Composite was up by 9.18 points or 0.22% to 4,137.55.