Markets at day’s high; Sensex gains 350 points

The local equity benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session to reach at their intraday high levels, despite weak opening in European markets. Banking stocks were gaining the most among all other indices, followed by Energy and Realty. Besides, the broader markets were also joined the rally in noon deals. The markets were taking support with Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India’s economy bottomed out and is on the rise again, citing good third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the fiscal year 2017-18. He also said that the country’s economy had witnessed slow growth because of decline in private investment and other factors and added that this has all started changing and investment cycle has turned. Investors took note of the report stating that the government sought Parliament nod for additional cash spending of Rs 85,315.30 crore in the current fiscal, of which 70 per cent is earmarked to compensate states for revenue loss on account of GST roll out. The industry majors like SBI, ICICI Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra, were also adding optimism on the street.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red, as investors awaited the latest interest rate decision from the European Central Bank (ECB) and exercised caution given the threats of global trade tariffs. However, Asian markets were trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, NCL Industries was trading in green on successfully completing the capacity expansion of Clinker and Cement production and has commenced its commercial operations with effect from March 07, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33386.32, up by 353.23 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 33037.48 and 33386.70. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.13%, Energy up by 1.10%, Realty up by 0.97%, Consumer Durables up by 0.88% and Auto up by 0.85%, while Metal down by 0.61%, Basic Materials down by 0.30% and Healthcare down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.88%, ICICI Bank up by 2.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.20%, Reliance Industries up by 2.09% and HDFC up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.09%, Tata Steel down by 1.87%, Indusind Bank down by 0.71%, Coal India down by 0.60% and TCS down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting structural reform, improving economic prospects and fiscal discipline, the government has made strong pitch for sovereign ratings upgrade to global rating agency Fitch, which has kept the country’s ratings unchanged for more than 11 years.

The government has assured the rating agency that they will stick to the fiscal consolidation path and will lower the fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP by 2020-21, noting that the current fiscal deficit target slippage was due to Goods and Services Tax (GST) as just 11 months of GST revenues accruing to the government instead of full 12 months. Further, the government expressed confident saying that the new indirect tax regime has almost stabilized and revenue collection will rise in the next 7-8 months, after e-way bill and invoice matching starts.

The government also assured Fitch that the country’s debt to GDP ratio will come down to 40 percent in the next few years and added that they will introduce amendments to the FRBM Act in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, specifying the consolidation road map. According to the road map, the fiscal deficit will be lowered to 3.3% in the next fiscal, to 3.1% in 2019-20 and 3% by 2020-21. Besides, Fitch had last upgraded India’s sovereign rating from BB+ to BBB- with stable outlook on August 1, 2006 and is due for an annual review in a couple of months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10259.60, up by 105.40 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 10146.40 and 10260.30. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.00%, ICICI Bank up by 2.88%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.42% and Reliance Industries up by 2.38%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.74%, Yes Bank down by 1.73%, GAIL India down by 1.02%, Hindalco down by 0.87% and BPCL down by 0.78% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.66 points or 0.14% to 1,840.56, Shanghai Composite increased 16.74 points or 0.51% to 3,288.41, KOSPI Index increased 31.26 points or 1.3% to 2,433.08, Jakarta Composite increased 71.22 points or 1.12% to 6,439.48, Taiwan Weighted increased 77.92 points or 0.73% to 10,823.24, Nikkei 225 increased 115.35 points or 0.54% to 21,368.07 and Hang Seng increased 457.6 points or 1.52% to 30,654.52.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 7.04 points or 0.06% to 12,238.32 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.02 points or 0.07% to 7,152.82. On the flip side, France’s CAC increased 7.89 points or 0.15% to 5,195.72.