Indian markets continued to trade near neutral lines in early afternoon session. Traders were cautious ahead of India’s January inflation data due on tomorrow. January inflation data could offer clues about the central bank's rate path going forward. Investors took note of Commerce Secretary, Rajesh Agrawal's statement that the recent conclusion of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) is 'truly a mother of all deals' as it covers together nearly one-fourth of the global economy. Besides, NSO in its quarterly PLFS has showed that the rate of unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above in cities declined marginally to 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025 from 6.9 per cent in the previous quarter. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher as China inflation softened in January due to Lunar New Year holiday effects, while producer price deflation softened. Consumer price inflation weakened to 0.2 percent in January from 0.8 percent in December. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84232.43, down by 41.49 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 84146.37 and 84487.34. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.66%, Healthcare up by 1.06%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.44%, Telecom up by 0.23% and Bankex was up by 0.01%, while IT down by 1.25%, TECK down by 0.70%, Power down by 0.66%, Capital Goods down by 0.50% and Utilities was down by 0.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.00%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.26%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.92% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.44%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.15%, HCL Tech down by 1.04%, ITC down by 0.95%, Infosys down by 0.88% and Adani Ports down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to double the aggregate ceiling of unsecured advances by the Urban Co-operative Bank (UCBs) to 20% of total assets from earlier 10%. Further, it has proposed to enhance individual loan limits and rationalise the definition of unsecured advances, enhance the individual loan limits of these loans. 

For the priority sector, the additional unsecured advances above this prudential ceiling shall be permitted, given by a monetary ceiling of Rs 50,000 per borrower. Moreover, the lending limit to nominal members for purchase of consumer durables is proposed to be enhanced to Rs 2.5 lakh per borrower, and the tenor and moratorium requirements for housing loans are proposed to be deregulated for Tier-3 and Tier-4 UCBs.

The RBI had announced the review of the lending norms for UCBs in the February monetary policy. During the monetary policy announcement, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra had said that to strengthen the managerial and technical capacity of the UCBs, the central bank will launch Mission-SAKSHAM (Sahakari Bank Kshamta Nirman). The mission intends to train over 1.4 lakh participants from UCBs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25939.70, up by 4.55 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 25909.85 and 26009.40. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 6.21%, Apollo Hospital up by 4.78%, Max Healthcare Inst up by 2.41%, SBI up by 1.98% and Tata Motors Passenger up by 1.67%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.31%, TCS down by 1.59%, HCL Tech down by 1.37%, ONGC down by 1.07% and ITC down by 1.06% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 532.74 points or 1.59% to 33,605.71, Jakarta Composite gained 110.4 points or 1.36% to 8,242.14, Hang Seng advanced 80.85 points or 0.3% to 27,264.00, KOSPI increased 52.80 points or 0.99% to 5,354.49, Straits Times rose 20.78 points or 0.42% to 4,985.03 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.46 points or 0.11% to 4,132.83.