Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Thursday amid foreign fund outflows. The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling on the 14th day as they offloaded equities worth Rs 4,026 crore on January 22. However, soon markets wiped out their losses and entered into green terrain following firm cues from Wall Street overnight as well as broadly positive cues from Asian counterparts. Sensex and Nifty are trading higher with decent gains in early deals amid buying in IT and TECK stocks. Traders took note of a State Bank of India (SBI) report stated that during the first nine months of the current financial year, Indian companies announced investments of over Rs 32 trillion, a 39 per cent increase compared to Rs 23 trillion in the same period of the previous financial year, with private sector contributions rising to 70 per cent.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, driven by China after multiple Chinese government departments rolled out medium- and long-term investment plan with clear measures to boost capital market confidence. Concerns about tariff threats by US President Donald Trump limited market's upside. Besides, Japan posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of 130.936 billion yen in December. Moreover, Taiwan is closed for the long Lunar New Year break.
Back home, aviation industry stocks are in focus with the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showing that the domestic air passenger traffic increased by 6.12 per cent on-year in 2024 to 161.3 million. In 2023, the number of domestic air passengers stood at 152 million. In stock specific development, Hindustan Unilever traded under pressure despite its third-quarter profit rose 18.9 percent year-on-year.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76591.50, up by 186.51 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 76202.12 and 76591.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.62%, TECK up by 1.20%, Consumer Durables up by 1.04%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.87% and Telecom up by 0.86%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.33%, Energy down by 0.17%, Bankex down by 0.08% and FMCG down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Zomato up by 2.82%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.78%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.45% and Sun Pharma up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.75%, Nestle down by 1.21%, SBI down by 0.54%, Axis Bank down by 0.51% and HCL Technologies down by 0.45% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the government has estimated the size of India's digital economy at 11.74% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in a first-of-its-kind exercise. In absolute numbers, the digital economy in 2022-23 was equivalent to Rs 31.64 lakh crore (around $402 billion) in GDP. The digital-enabling industry, which includes sectors such as information and communication related services, telecommunication (traditionally referred to as the ICT sector), and manufacturing of electronic components, computers, and communication equipment, is the highest contributor, accounting for 7.83% of GVA.
The new digital industries, which include Big Tech players, other digital platforms and intermediaries, and firms dependent on digital intermediaries, account for nearly 2% of GVA. The digital contribution of three traditional industries (BFSI, trade, and education), which are not part of the OECD framework but are included in our estimates, amounts to 2% of national GVA, rivalling in importance to the new digital industries.
This is a clear indication that India’s digital economy is steadily moving beyond the realm of the ICT industries, diffusing across all parts of the economy through digital platforms and the digitalisation of brick-and-mortar sectors. India’s digital economy is expected to grow almost twice as fast as the overall economy, contributing to nearly one-fifth of national income by 2030. In the short run, the highest growth is likely to come from the growth of digital intermediaries and platforms, followed by higher digital diffusion and digitalisation of the rest of the economy. In 2022-23, the digital economy accounted for 14.67 million workers, or 2.55% of India’s estimated work force.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23207.70, up by 52.35 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 23090.65 and 23214.05. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 3.93%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.82%, Trent up by 1.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.57% and Bharat Electronics up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.74%, Nestle down by 1.21%, BPCL down by 0.74%, SBI down by 0.62% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.57% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 316.74 points or 0.79% to 39,962.99, Jakarta Composite gained 50.11 points or 0.69% to 7,307.24, Hang Seng advanced 47.23 points or 0.24% to 19,826.00, Shanghai Composite strengthened 32.89 points or 1.01% to 3,246.51 and Straits Times rose 32.14 points or 0.84% to 3,813.35, while KOSPI was down by 15.43 points or 0.61% to 2,531.63.