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Sensex, Nifty hold notable gains in late morning deals

Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both the Sensex and the Nifty holding their notable gains. Domestic sentiments were positive despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. Traders were getting encouragement, as Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 witnessed strong Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) inflows into the Indian equity markets of Rs 2,74,034 crore, thus, reflecting steadfast confidence of foreign investors in the fundamentals of the Indian Economy. The robust FPI flows came on the back of faster than expected economic recovery supported by multiple tranches of innovatively designed stimulus packages.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after China's service sector growth accelerated in March driven by steeper increases in activity and overseas sales. The survey results from IHS Markit showed that the Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 54.3 in March from 51.5 in February. The pace of expansion was the fastest in last three months. The score has remained above the neutral 50.0 level for eleventh consecutive month. The survey showed that new orders increased at the fastest pace in three months despite a slight fall in export business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49419.72, up by 260.40 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 48936.35 and 49582.26. There were 23 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.19%, while Small cap index was up by 1.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.74%, Industrials up by 1.67%, Utilities up by 1.36%, Realty up by 1.34% and Telecom up by 1.22%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.31%, HDFC up by 1.27%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.24%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.23% and Sun Pharma up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 0.44%, Indusind Bank down by 0.30%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.28%, Reliance Industries down by 0.21% and ICICI Bank down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that India today is well-positioned to become a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and there is a need to adopt it across all sectors. He further said the government has a crucial role to play in positioning India as the 'tech garage' of the world. He also said AI has been catalysing leadership in the last few years and it is a game changer.

The Niti Aayog CEO further said AI will have a very critical impact on the defence sector and prove to be crucial technology for air warriors. He pointed out that India's large geographical diversity presents unique developmental challenges in areas like education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure and transportation. For India to maximise the effective leveraging of AI tools, he said ‘we need to cultivate and harness our biggest asset which is the human capital. The New Education Policy is a great enabler with special emphasis on skills.’

Kant said the government will play the role of a catalyst in bringing together the synergies of the private sector for innovations. For the use of AI in the defence sector, he said there needs to be more collaboration between the private sector, government and academic institutions. He added that India is now a data-rich country and must become a more data-intelligent nation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14732.60, up by 94.80 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 14573.90 and 14779.10. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 8.17%, Asian Paints up by 3.44%, UPL up by 2.59%, JSW Steel up by 2.33% and Tata Consumer Products up by 2.32%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 0.60%, Titan Company down by 0.35%, Tata Steel down by 0.32%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.28% and Reliance Industries down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 190.63 points or 1.15% to 16,761.91, Jakarta Composite soared 26.15 points or 0.44% to 5,996.44 and KOSPI rose 4.01 points or 0.13% to 3,124.84. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 9.65 points or 0.3% to 3,200.09, Shanghai Composite declined 11.07 points or 0.32% to 3,473.32 and Nikkei 225 slipped 331.80 points or 1.1% to 29,757.45.

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