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Amid volatility over the Dalal Street, Indian equity benchmarks were hovering near their neutral lines in early noon deals, on the back of mixed cues from other Asian markets and selling at Metal and Auto counters. Traders got cautious, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the responsibility for the trade imbalance with China rests squarely on businesses as well, blaming Indian corporates for not developing the right sourcing arrangements. Investors failed to take any sense of relief with the finance ministry’s statement that the measures like increased capex, boosting the green economy and initiatives for strengthening financial markets announced in the Budget 2023-24 are expected to promote job creation and spur economic growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as Japan's consumer price inflation accelerated further in January to hit a fresh 41-year high, adding pressure on the central bank to withdraw its massive monetary stimulus. The data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that core inflation that excludes volatile fresh food climbed to 4.2 percent in January from 4.0 percent in the previous month.

Back home, stocks related to the apparel sector were in focus, after the Apparel Export Promotion Council’s (AEPC) Chairman Naren Goenka expressed confidence that in the coming years, the apparel sector will be able to support the government's efforts to make India a $2 trillion ($1 trillion goods and $1 trillion services) export target by 2030.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59622.79, up by 16.99 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 59574.96 and 59908.77. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.27%, Telecom up by 0.21%, Consumer Durables up by 0.19%, Bankex up by 0.12% and Energy up by 0.11%, while Metal down by 1.92%, Auto down by 0.65%, Utilities down by 0.60%, Power down by 0.60% and FMCG down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.74%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.04%, Nestle up by 0.64%, Reliance Industries up by 0.60% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.30%, Tata Motors down by 1.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.10%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.73% and ITC down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor -- D Subbarao has said there was not 'sufficient emphasis' on jobs in the Budget for 2023-24 and it failed to grapple with the unemployment problem head on, except to believe that growth itself will generate jobs. He noted that the unemployment problem was quite bad even before the Covid and it has become alarming as a result of the pandemic.

According to Subbarao, roughly a million people join the labour force every month and India is not able to create even half as many jobs. He added, as a result, the unemployment problem is not just growing but is becoming a crisis.

He pointed out that India will be able to take advantage of demographic dividend only if, ‘we are able to find productive employment for the burgeoning labour force.’ He also said that the biggest takeaways from the FY24 budget are the government's emphasis on growth and its commitment to fiscal responsibility contrary to the widely held pre-budget view that the finance minister will go full blast on populist measures because of electoral calculations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17502.80, down by 8.45 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 17486.35 and 17599.75. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Laboratories up by 1.89%, Asian Paints up by 1.74%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.00%, Nestle up by 0.70% and Axis Bank up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 7.92%, Hindalco down by 4.58%, JSW Steel down by 2.31%, ONGC down by 1.55% and Tata Steel down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 290.25 points or 1.43% to 20,061.10, Taiwan Weighted lost 111.62 points or 0.72% to 15,503.79, Shanghai Composite weakened 23.2 points or 0.71% to 3,264.28 and KOSPI dropped 14.2 points or 0.58% to 2,424.89, while Straits Times rose 17.63 points or 0.54% to 3,282.56, Jakarta Composite gained 26.93 points or 0.39% to 6,866.38 and Nikkei 225 surged 349.16 points or 1.27% to 27,453.48.

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