Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended flat with a negative bias on Tuesday. The start of the day was on a positive note, taking support with the commerce ministry’s data showing that growing for the second consecutive month, the country's exports rose 6.16 per cent year-on-year to $27.45 billion in January 2021 following healthy growth in pharma and engineering sectors. Trade deficit during the month narrowed to $14.54 billion from $15.3 billion in January 2020. It was $15.44 billion in December 2020. Imports in January 2021 rose 2 per cent to $42 billion. Some support also came with a private report that economic activity is on the verge of normality after getting severely hit by COVID-19 and Indian GDP will grow at 13.5 per cent in FY22.

Indices remained higher during the first half of the session, after S&P Global Ratings said that India is on track for an economic recovery in the fiscal year ending March 2022. It said in a report titled 'Cross-Sector Outlook: India's Escape From Covid' that consistently good agriculture performance, a flattening of the Covid-19 infection curve and a pickup in government spending are all supporting the economy. Sentiments remained positive with India Ratings and Research in a report stated that the aggregate fiscal deficit of states is likely to be at 4.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021-22 compared to 4.6 per cent in 2020-21. The rating agency has revised the outlook on state finances to stable for FY22 from stable-to-negative.

In the second half of the trading session, markets cut all of their gains to end the trading day in red terrain. Traders paid no heed towards Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on February 25, 2021. The street also overlooked report that the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance has released the 16th weekly instalment of Rs 5,000 crore to the States on Monday to meet the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation shortfall.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher as strong results from mining groups reinforced talk of a new 'supercycle' in commodities amid hopes for a broad and synchronized global recovery. Asian markets ended higher, after Indonesia's trade balance swung to a surplus in January, as exports rose and imports declined. The figures from Statistics Indonesia showed that the trade balance registered a surplus of $1.958 billion in January versus a deficit of $636.7 million a year ago. In December, the trade surplus was $2.099 billion. Exports grew 12.24 percent year-on-year in January. Imports fell 6.49 percent annually in January.

The BSE Sensex ended at 52104.17, down by 49.96 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 51863.61 and 52516.76. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 3.41%, Utilities up by 3.29%, Metal up by 3.08%, Energy up by 1.65% and Oil & Gas up by 1.55%, while IT down by 0.95%, TECK down by 0.84%, FMCG down by 0.70%, Consumer Durables down by 0.58% and Bankex down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 6.24%, ONGC up by 5.44%, NTPC up by 2.94%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.78% and Reliance Industries up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.42%, ICICI Bank down by 2.30%, Nestle down by 1.50%, Infosys down by 1.50% and SBI down by 1.17% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, following a review of current liquidity and financial conditions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of Government securities under Open Market Operations (OMO) for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore each on February 25, 2021.

The Reserve Bank reserves the right to decide on the quantum of purchase/sale of individual securities, accept bids/offers for less than the aggregate amount, purchase/sell marginally higher/lower than the aggregate amount due to rounding-off and accept or reject any or all the bid/offers either wholly or partially without assigning any reasons.

As per the notification, eligible participants should submit their bids/offers in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system between 10:00 am and 11:00 am on February 25, 2021. Only in the event of system failure, physical bids/offers would be accepted.

The CNX Nifty ended at 15313.45, down by 1.25 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 15242.20 and 15431.75. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 6.17%, ONGC up by 5.38%, Tata Steel up by 4.02%, Hindalco up by 3.88% and NTPC up by 2.94%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.39%, ICICI Bank down by 2.31%, Eicher Motors down by 1.56%, Nestle down by 1.50% and Infosys down by 1.47% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.91 points or 0.41% to 6,784.02, France’s CAC increased 3.99 points or 0.07% to 5,790.24 and Germany’s DAX was up by 10.05 points or 0.07% to 14,119.53.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as expectations of quicker global economic recovery with optimism for more fiscal stimulus from United States and successful rollouts of Covid-19 vaccines in many countries kept the sentiments positive. Japanese shares gained, supported by exporters as weaker yen boosts sentiment. Meanwhile, Markets in Taiwan and China were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.