Domestic indices trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Monday ahead of Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later in the day. Markets are trading higher with decent gains in early deals. Buying in Bankex, Oil & Gas and Energy counters are supporting the domestic indices. This Budget is more keenly eyed as it comes on the heels of an unprecedented pandemic that changed India's economic landscape. Expectations remain high that the government will deliver introduce pro-cyclical measures to further strengthen the ongoing economic recovery. Sentiments got a boost with the Finance Ministry’s statement that GST collections for January touched an all-time high of about Rs 1.20 lakh crore. Also, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 14,649 crore in Indian markets in January, amid availability of global liquidity and emerging markets being a preferred destination for foreign funds. However, upside remained limited as the output of eight core infrastructure sectors contracted for the third month in a row by 1.3 per cent in December, dragged down by poor show by crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel and cement sectors. Broader indices -- BSE Mid cap and small cap were underperforming the larger peers with marginal losses.

Global cues also remained supportive with most of the Asian markets were trading higher as investors shrugged off the negative cues from Wall Street Friday amid concerns about recent market volatility and following news that Johnson & Johnson's one-dose coronavirus vaccine appeared to be less potent against newer COVID variants. Back home, auto stocks were in focus reacting to their monthly sales numbers. Power stocks were in limelight as Power Secretary S N Sahai said that power demand touched an all-time high of 189.64 GW on Saturday. In scrip specific development, ICICI Bank jumped as its net profit in Q3FY21 rose 19.1 percent to Rs 4,939.6 crore from Rs 4,146.5 crore, while net interest income rose 16 percent to Rs 9,912.5 crore from Rs 8,545.3 crore, Y-o-Y.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 46506.64, up by 220.87 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 46457.65 and 46777.56. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.46%, while Small cap index was down by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.42%, Oil & Gas up by 0.77%, Energy up by 0.61%, Realty up by 0.60%, Metal up by 0.57%, while Healthcare down by 0.94%, IT down by 0.62%, TECK down by 0.50%, Auto down by 0.49%, Basic Materials down by 0.38% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 7.58%, ICICI Bank up by 4.74%, HDFC up by 1.73%, HDFC Bank up by 0.97% and ONGC up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.71%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.67%, HCL Technologies down by 1.42%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.29% and TCS down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in its latest report has said that India will emerge as the most resilient economy after Germany in 2021, exhibiting a strong economic resurgence to the global economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report noted that Germany ranks first in the PHDCCI International Economic Resilience (IER) Rank followed by India and South Korea at second and third positions, respectively. It is based on analysis of five lead macroeconomic indicators reflecting a country's economic performance including real GDP growth rate, merchandise export growth rate, current account balance (as percentage of GDP), general government net lending/borrowing (as percentage of GDP) and gross debt-to-GDP ratio.

According to the industry body, India's IER Rank stands at second among the top-10 leading economies, indicating strong resilience of the Indian economy to the daunting pandemic of COVID-19. It also said the overall performance is projected at the second position after Germany in 2021. India's real GDP growth rate is projected to be the highest at 11.5 percent in the year 2021 among the top-10 leading economies in the world. It also stated that the merchandise export volume growth is estimated to be the strongest at 14 per cent in the year 2021, reflecting the great potential that the economy holds in terms of its international presence.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13683.20, up by 48.60 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 13668.30 and 13773.80. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 7.48%, ICICI Bank up by 4.82%, HDFC up by 2.02%, BPCL up by 1.67% and IOC up by 1.66%. On the flip side, UPL down by 7.50%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.72%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.67%, Cipla down by 2.57% and Tata Motors down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei surged 342.38 points or 1.24% to 28,005.77, Hang Seng jumped 515.55 points or 1.82% to 28,799.26, Taiwan Weighted soared 213.37 points or 1.41% to 15,351.68, KOSPI rose 62.87 points or 2.11% to 3,039.08, Jakarta Composite added 78.56 points or 1.34% to 5,940.91 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.39 points or 0.10% to 3,486.46, while Straits Times lost 5.04 points or 0.17% to 2,897.48.