Indices remain in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks off day's high but continued trading higher in morning deals, tracking gains in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Ultratech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Sentiments remained positive with Chief Economist of the IMF Gita Gopinath’s statement that India has been at the forefront in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and ‘really stands out’ in terms of its vaccine policy. She noted that India has been providing vaccines through grants to several of its neighbour countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, and through commercial arrangements as well. Some support also came with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the fiscal measures taken by government during 2020-21 have been calibrated to sustain high spending in the economy and assist in its V-shaped recovery, resulting in a positive GDP growth of 0.4 percent in third quarter of FY 2020-21. Meanwhile, 15th Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh has called for setting up a Fiscal Council like institution to better manage the debt trajectory of the Centre and states. He also highlighted the ‘substantial’ increase in the proportion of cess and surcharge in Gross Tax Revenue (GTR) in the past 10 years, saying only if a Constitutional amendment is introduced to include a portion of it into the divisible pool, then states' could get a share of the revenue earned under that head.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors react to a stronger dollar, higher U.S. bond yields and climbing oil prices. Back home, on the sectoral front, Aviation stocks remained in focus with ICRA’s report that India's domestic air traffic fell 37 per cent year-on-year to 78 lakh (7.8 million) passengers in February amid travel curbs and capacity restrictions due to the pandemic. There were some reaction in banking stocks as Fitch Ratings said the impact of Covid-19 pandemic is likely to pose challenges to improving financial performance of Indian banks once asset-quality risks manifest in the financial year ending March 2022 (FY22).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50761.67, up by 320.60 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 50702.36 and 50994.60. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.35%, Consumer Durables up by 0.91%, Basic Materials up by 0.76%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.57%, Auto up by 0.39% while, Oil & Gas down by 1.49%, Utilities down by 0.78%, Energy down by 0.62%, PSU down by 0.53%, Power down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 2.25%, ICICI Bank up by 1.78%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.74%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.68% and HDFC up by 1.60%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.48%, Power Grid down by 1.18%, Nestle down by 1.02%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.63% and NTPC down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the fiscal measures taken by government during 2020-21 have been calibrated to sustain high spending in the economy and assist in its V-shaped recovery, resulting in a positive GDP growth of 0.4 percent in third quarter of FY 2020-21. The economy is estimated to contract by 8 per cent during 2020-21 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister further said that the gradual unlocking of the economy has eased supply-side disruptions enabling inflation to decline from 7.6 percent in October, 2020 to 4.1 percent in January 2021, mainly on account of decline in food inflation. She said lower inflation has increased the real purchasing power of the people leaving more money in their hands to spend. She noted that the money to spend has further increased under PMGKY and ANB packages through direct benefit and in-kind (food; cooking gas) transfers, emergency credit to small businesses and wage increases for MGNREGA workers, among others.

With regard to lockdown, Sitharaman said the government imposed a strict 21-days nationwide lockdown from March 25, 2020, to contain the spread of COVID-19 and ramp up the health infrastructure with a view to saving lives. She stated that astute management of the lockdown and subsequent unlocking along with strengthened health infrastructure was accompanied by roll out of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and Atmanirbhar Bharat (ANB) packages that besides saving lives also protected livelihoods and businesses. She added that these measures, amounting to Rs 29.87 lakh crore - equivalent to 15 percent of India's GDP, have boosted consumer confidence as their implementation advanced through 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15049.75, up by 93.55 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 15035.45 and 15119.30. There were 30 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 3.77%, Grasim Industries up by 3.63%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.70%, HDFC Bank up by 2.27% and Shree Cement up by 2.26%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.37%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.03%, UPL down by 1.70%, GAIL India down by 1.46% and ONGC down by 1.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 27.52 points or 0.17% to 15,792.59, KOSPI fell 16.28 points or 0.54% to 2,979.83, Jakarta Composite lost 8.30 points or 0.13% to 6,240.17 and Shanghai Composite declined 5.75 points or 0.17% to 3,415.66.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 39.97 points or 1.3% to 3,111.13, Nikkei 225 surged 257.92 points or 0.9% to 29,001.17 and Hang Seng increased 437.43 points or 1.53% to 28,978.26.