Sensex, Nifty trade flat in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start and turned volatile amid weakness in Asian counterparts as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key U.S. inflation measure, the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and uncertainty over Trump's tariff plans. Sensex and Nifty are trading flat in early deals as investors avoided to take any long positions ahead of GDP numbers to be out later in the week. Some cautiousness came in with report that after running surplus liquidity of about Rs 1.4 lakh crore for over two months, the banking system saw a decline in cash, prompting the Reserve Bank of India to inject Rs 6,956 crore on November 25. However, down side remained capped as some support came in amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign investors net bought shares worth Rs 1,157.70 crore on November 26. 

On the sectoral front, telecom stocks are in focus with a private report that India is projected to have 270 million 5G subscribers by the end of 2024, making up 23 per cent of the country’s mobile subscriptions. This represents a significant rise from the 110-120 million 5G users recorded in 2023. In stock specific development, Ola Electric traded higher as it launched Gig & S1 Z range of scooters in the price range of Rs 39,999 to Rs 64,999 (ex-showroom).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80063.31, up by 59.25 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 79844.49 and 80170.16. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.20%, Industrials up by 1.04%, Capital Goods up by 0.95%, Utilities up by 0.80% and PSU up by 0.53%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.35%, FMCG down by 0.24%, Realty down by 0.19%, Energy down by 0.07% and Metal down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.24%, NTPC up by 1.20%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.96%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.92% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.41%, Tata Steel down by 0.90%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.73%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.69% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government is working on an integrated platform for the insolvency ecosystem covering key stakeholders that will also help speed up resolution processes. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which came into force in 2016, aims to provide market-linked and time-bound resolution of stressed assets. However, there have been delays in the resolution process.

Anita Shah Akella, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), has emphasised that IBC is not a recovery mechanism but a rescue mechanism. While mentioning various steps taken and also being planned to further improve IBC resolutions, she said the ministry is working on having an integrated platform for the insolvency ecosystem. She noted ‘(It will be a) federated architecture that will push and pull data as and when required’.

The platform will connect MCA, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and insolvency professionals, among others. It will have various features such as red flags in case of delays and alerts on the app. 

As per official data, a total of 1,963 CIRP (Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process) cases are ongoing and out of them, 1,388 have exceeded the time limit of 270 days. The data shared by the ministry with the Lok Sabha showed creditors have recovered around Rs 3.55 lakh crore through resolution of 1,068 cases under the insolvency law till September this year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24183.55, down by 10.95 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 24145.65 and 24268.85. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 2.08%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.66%, Coal India up by 1.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.23% and NTPC up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.41%, Cipla down by 1.09%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.00%, Tata Steel down by 0.94% and Britannia Industries down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 297.07 points or 0.77% to 38,144.93, Taiwan Weighted lost 175.65 points or 0.77% to 22,503.11, Straits Times fell 9.59 points or 0.26% to 3,702.80 and KOSPI dropped 8.54 points or 0.34% to 2,511.82. On the other hand, Hang Seng advanced 80.65 points or 0.42% to 19,239.85 and Shanghai Composite was up by 16.82 points or 0.51% to 3,276.58.