Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in green in morning deals, supported by gains in index heavyweights like Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel and HDFC Bank. Traders took support with oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s statement that Donald Trump’s return to the White House will help bring more energy supplies to the global market, putting pressure on prices, benefitting India. Traders also took a note of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra’s statement that India is at the forefront of the digital revolution and financial technology is speeding up digital payments. He said it is estimated that the digital economy currently accounts for a tenth of India's GDP and added that going by growth rates observed over the past decade, it is poised to constitute a fifth of GDP by 2026. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders fretted about the impact of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on inflation and interest rates.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77781.38, up by 90.43 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 77518.50 and 78055.52. 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 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 1.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.56%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.27%, Auto up by 1.11%, Power up by 1.02% and Industrials up by 0.99%, while FMCG down by 0.59%, TECK down by 0.13% and IT down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.29%, JSW Steel up by 1.00%, HDFC Bank up by 0.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.73% and SBI up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.59%, ITC down by 1.07%, Nestle down by 0.63%, TCS down by 0.63% and Titan Company down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra has said that India is at the forefront of the digital revolution and financial technology is speeding up digital payments. Vibrant e-markets are springing up and expanding their reach. He said it is estimated that the digital economy currently accounts for a tenth of India's GDP and added that going by growth rates observed over the past decade, it is poised to constitute a fifth of GDP by 2026. 

RBI Deputy Governor said that India is uniquely positioned to unlock new growth avenues and optimise existing ones with its digital public infrastructure (DPI), a vibrant information technology sector and a burgeoning youth population, including one of the largest AI talent bases. On digitalisation of Indian finance, he said micro-level evidence from surveys of Indian banks shows that while all of them have implemented mobile and internet banking, 75 per cent offer online account opening, digital KYC and digitally-enabled doorstep banking.  

Additionally, he further said 60 per cent provide digital lending, 50 per cent offer payment aggregator services, 41 per cent use chatbots, 24 per cent have adopted open banking, and 10 per cent have integrated Internet of Things (IoT) technology. As many as 19 private sector banks are leading the technology adoption. He noted that an AI-assisted review of the latest annual reports of Indian banks reveals various instances of productivity gains by SCBs (Schedule Commercial Banks) from digitalisation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23573.20, up by 14.15 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 23500.65 and 23675.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 7.68%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.56%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.08%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.04% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.71%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.24%, ITC down by 1.18%, Britannia Industries down by 1.11% and BPCL down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite plunged 46.38 points or 0.63% to 7,262.29, Shanghai Composite weakened 10.91 points or 0.32% to 3,428.37, Taiwan Weighted lost 144.85 points or 0.63% to 22,715.38 and Hang Seng declined 173.54 points or 0.88% to 19,649.91. However, Nikkei 225 surged 2.82 points or 0.01% to 38,724.48, KOSPI increased 8.58 points or 0.35% to 2,425.66 and Straits Times rose 1.21 points or 0.03% to 3,721.55.