Bourses add gains on sustained buying support

Mirroring their Asian peers, Indian equity markets added gains with Sensex and Nifty crossing 50,900 and 15,100 levels in the afternoon session due to heavy buying in metal, basic materials and banking stocks. Gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as SBI, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance also helped lift the markets. Bourses extended upward rally as India's services activity expanded at the fastest rate in a year during February, while employment fell further and companies noted the sharpest rise in overall expenses. Meanwhile, India climbed up to third spot in the Hurun Global Rich List 2021 with 209 billionaires -- 40 more than last year -- with Mukesh Ambani seeing his wealth up 24 per cent to 83 billion dollars (about Rs six lakh crore) on the back of a surge in value of energy and telecom giant Reliance. In scrip specific development, Reliance Naval & Engineering touched upper circuit as private report states that Jindal Steel & Power and two other groups were the latest to express interest in bidding for the company.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading firm as investors shrugged off concerns that stocks may have rallied too far too fast in the past year, and focused instead on optimism that more imminent U.S. stimulus will energise the global economic recovery. Back on street, the overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1850:974; while 163 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50904.28, up by 607.39 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 50512.84 and 50922.79. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surge 1.32%, while Small cap index was up by 1.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.47%, Basic Materials up by 2.19%, Bankex up by 1.97%, Utilities up by 1.91% and Power was up by 1.60%, while Auto was down by 0.44% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.16%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.95%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.60%, Axis Bank up by 2.46% and ICICI Bank was up by 2.21%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.72% and Asian Paints was down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commenting on the telecom spectrum auctions, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report said that the results of telecom spectrum auction that grossed over Rs 77,800 crore have exceeded initial estimates. It noted that while the value of total spectrum sold is only 19 percent of the total value of spectrum on offer, post the auctions, the debt levels of the industry would increase further to around Rs 5 lakh crore as on March 31, 2022 and despite the improvement in the operating metrics, the debt protection metrics will continue to remain weak.

According to the report, the telcos not only bid for renewals of the expiring spectrum but focused on consolidating their spectrum holdings in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. It stated that while the sub-GHz bands will be crucial for 5G technology deployment going forward as well as improvement of indoor coverage, the appetite for 2300 MHz band stems from the rising mobile broadband usage and thus the need for improving network capacity.

ICRA further said while there was no interest in the 700 MHz band this time around too, 2100 MHz band witnessed ‘muted’ participation. It also said spectrum acquisition for bolstering the data capabilities remained the theme of these auctions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15100.00, up by 180.90 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 14995.80 and 15110.75. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 5.64%, Adani Ports up by 3.86%, JSW Steel up by 3.70%, Hindalco up by 3.62% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 2.88%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.48%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.32%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.29%, Eicher Motors down by 0.82% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 0.80% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 264.85 points or 1.16% to 16,211.73, KOSPI rose 39.12 points or 1.29% to 3,082.99, Straits Times advanced 16.42 points or 0.55% to 2,990.29, Jakarta Composite soared 19.39 points or 0.30% to 6,378.60, Shanghai Composite gained 56.04 points or 1.60% to 3,564.63, Hang Seng increased 623.00 points or 2.14% to 29,718.86 and Nikkei 225 was up by 150.93 points or 0.51% to 29,559.10.