Markets escalate to day’s high on sustained buying activities

Going from strength to strength, local equity markets escalated to day’s high point on sustained buying activities by funds and retail investors on the penultimate session of F&O expiry, thanks to positive global set-up after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testimony that Fed would not be rushing to hike interest rates. She added, however, that a rate increase is not likely for at least the next couple of meetings, and that the first hike would not necessarily come after the Fed removes the word 'patient' from its forward guidance. At day’s high, both Sensex and Nifty were trading above psychologically crucial 29,200 and 8,800 levels respectively, with gains of around 3/4 of a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices also participated into the rally, though gains were comparatively less than that of larger counterparts.

The surge was led by re-bound in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, HDFC and Infosys among others. While, Reliance Industries was up 1% on short covering at lower levels after the stock witnessed profit booking in the previous few sessions, Infosys, India’s second-largest information technology services firm  rallied after it announced that it would soon invest in a start-up that develops cloud-based air quality detectors.

On the global front, Asian stocks also rose after Activity in China's mammoth factory sector edged up to a four-month high in February even as export orders shrank at their fastest rate in 20 months. The flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) inched up to 50.1 in February, a whisker above the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a monthly basis.

Closer home, while buying was visible across the board, stocks from Realty, Information Technology and Oil & Gas counters outperformed rest of the peers. On the flip side, drubbing was witnessed in stocks belonging to Consumer Durable counter, which remains the prominent loser of the session. Meanwhile, Financials were among the top gainers with mortgage lender HDFC gaining over 2% on expectations that the upcoming Budget would announce benefits for low-cost housing. Meanwhile, Metal & mining stocks rose after a preliminary reading of China's manufacturing activity printed at a four-month high this month. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1317:1220; while 105 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29215.30, up by 210.64 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 29115.32 and 29269.83. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.31%, while Small cap index gained 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.06%, IT up by 0.99%, Oil & Gas up by 0.97%, TECK up by 0.88%, PSU up by 0.62% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.29% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.46%, Infosys up by 2.22%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%, ONGC up by 1.55% and Sesa Sterlite up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.18%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.96%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.60%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.54% and Tata Steel down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of Budget, results of Business Confidence Survey, conducted by industry body FICCI showed a marginal dip in the proportion of respondents anticipating 'moderately to substantially better' performance over the near-term at economy, industry and firm level. Around 83% of the participants in the current survey cited a `moderately to substantially better` overall economic situation over the next six months, compared to 84% stating likewise in the last round.

The survey drew responses from about 150 companies with a turnover ranging from Rs 3 crore to Rs 10,000 crore and belonging to a wide array of sectors - chemicals, steel, paper products, textiles, automotive, electric machinery, pharmaceutical, food processing and hospitality.

Although the survey pointed better situation as compared to last year, it showed that sustainable turnaround remained elusive on investments, profits and exports. According to Ficci's poll, measures announced by the government over the course of last seven to eight months did have a positive impact on the sentiment of the business community, but continued implementation of these reforms were required by sustain the buoyancy.

The survey also found that the industry was confident about the government continuing pursuing its broad economic agenda to push reforms and take tangible steps towards its completion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8822.90, up by 60.80 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 8798.00 and 8840.65. There were 33 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.56%, HDFC up by 2.33%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.27%, DLF up by 2.05% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.75%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.35%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.32%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 0.89% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were holding mostly in green; with KOSPI Index trading higher by 6.94 points or 0.35% to 1,968.39; Straits Times trading higher by 10.42 points or 0.3% to 3,448.03; Jakarta Composite trading higher by 16.97 points or 0.31% to 5,434.28; Hang Seng trading higher by 22.27 points or 0.09% to 24,772.34; Taiwan Weighted trading higher by 70.17 points or 0.73% to 9,699.54.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite trading lower by 19.79 points or 0.61% to 3,227.12; Nikkei 225 trading lower by 18.28 points or 0.1% to 18,585.20 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading lower by 8.59 points or 0.47% to 1,810.09