Benchmarks continues upward rally after Budget announcements

The Indian benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining more than 1700 and 500 points, respectively amid Finance Minister concluded budget speech. Indusind Bank, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finserv were the prime gainers among heavy-weights, pushing the Sensex higher. Sentiments remained upbeat after Indian manufacturing industry started 2021 with strong growth, as sustained sales growth supported a further upturn in manufacturing sector output in January. As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - surged to 57.7 in January as against 56.4 in December. Sector wise, oil sector remained in focus, as crude oil production having 8.98 percent weight dropped by 3.6 percent in December, 2020 over December, 2019 and its cumulative index declined by 5.7 percent during April to December, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after coronavirus vaccine maker AstraZeneca agreed to increase supplies to Europe amid rising worries about the disease. European markets were trading higher bouncing from their worst weekly decline since October helped by a rise in shares of miners after an ongoing retail frenzy shifted its attention to silver.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48065.12, up by 1779.35 points or 3.84% after trading in a range of 46433.65 and 48381.57. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 2.05%, while Small cap index was up by 1.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 6.01%, Capital Goods up by 4.72%, Realty up by 4.45%, Industrials up by 3.88% and Auto was up by 3.50%, while Healthcare down by 0.37% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 10.66%, ICICI Bank up by 10.24%, Bajaj Finserv up by 8.79%, Larsen & Toubro up by 8.05% and HDFC up by 7.98%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 4.21%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.12%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.72% and Sun Pharma down by 0.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian manufacturing industry started 2021 with strong growth, as sustained sales growth supported a further upturn in manufacturing sector output in January. As per the survey report, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - surged to 57.7 in January as against 56.4 in December.

The report further said that new orders and output rose across each of the three broad areas of the manufacturing sector. For both measures, rates of expansion picked up at consumer and capital goods firms but eased at intermediate goods makers. Besides, aggregate new export orders continued to increase in January, taking the current stretch of growth to five months. Moreover, the pace of expansion was solid and quickened from December.

Despite the pick-up in demand, manufacturing sector jobs decreased further in January. The pace of contraction was modest, however, and the slowest in the current ten-month sequence of reduction. The survey also showed an intensification of cost pressures, with purchase price inflation reaching a 28-month high. Favourable demand conditions enabled firms to pass on some of this cost burden in the form of higher factory gates charges, which rose at the quickest pace in over a year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14170.90, up by 536.30 points or 3.93% after trading in a range of 13661.75 and 14214.80. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 11.10%, ICICI Bank up by 10.68%, Bajaj Finserv up by 8.89%, Larsen & Toubro up by 8.35% and SBI up by 7.80%. On the flip side, UPL down by 5.56%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 4.12%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.92%, Cipla down by 0.82% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 609.15 points or 2.15% to 28,892.86, Nikkei 225 surged 427.66 points or 1.55% to 28,091.05, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 271.78 points or 1.8% to 15,410.09, Jakarta Composite soared 205.19 points or 3.5% to 6,067.54, KOSPI rose 80.32 points or 2.7% to 3,056.53 and Shanghai Composite was up by 22.21 points or 0.64% to 3,505.28. On the other hands, Straits Times was down by 6.33 points or 0.22% to 2,896.19.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 48.29 points or 0.75% to 6,455.75, France’s CAC increased 48.25 points or 0.89% to 5,447.46 and Germany’s DAX was up by 143.56 points or 1.07% to 13,576.43.