Markets continue to trade higher in morning session

Indian benchmark indices continued to trade higher in the morning session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from regional counterparts. Sentiments remained upbeat as the Centre said the acceleration in delivering COVID-19 vaccine shots has been achieved in collaboration with the private sector which administered more than 23 per cent of the doses. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 71.23 percent of coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in government hospitals, while 28.77 percent of these doses have been contributed by private facilities. Some support also came with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stating that it will conduct simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities for Rs 10,000 crore each under Open Market Operations (OMOs) on March 18, 2020. The RBI said the decision was taken after a review of the current liquidity and financial conditions. Traders overlooked SBI report stating that India’s combined federal and states’ budget gap in the current fiscal year will reach 12.7% on increased healthcare spending and a collapse in revenueamid the pandemic. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, tracking record highs on Wall Street overnight amid strong jobless claims data and European Central Bank's dovish tone. Optimism over the $1.9 trillion relief bill, which is likely to be signed by US President Joe Biden on Friday, also boosted sentiment. Back home, on the sectoral front, aviation stocks remained in green despite rating agency ICRA has a negative credit outlook on Indian aviation industry, reflecting a view that financial performance of airlines is likely to remain weak in near-to-medium term amid weak air traffic.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51709.21, up by 429.70 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 51640.42 and 51821.84. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.81%, Capital Goods up by 1.64%, Power up by 1.54%, Metal up by 1.47% and Oil & Gas up by 1.46%, while FMCG down by 0.19% and Auto down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.29%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.72%, HDFC Bank up by 1.70%, Power Grid up by 1.65% and Infosys up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.37%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.67%, Sun Pharma down by 0.64%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.63% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has said that India’s exports are steadily recovering and it is expected to record a healthy growth rate in March. He also said the country's merchandise exports were impacted on account of the COVID pandemic. He said ‘but since then, there is a steady cumulative recovery. Our exports turned positive in September 2020. After September, there was borderline negative (growth) for a few months, then in January 2021, it was positive again.’

Wadhawan has stated that February was more or less even and now March is again promising to be significantly positive. He noted that India's exports borne the shock well and it has recovered quickly from the pandemic. He also said there is a need to recover in areas like gems and jewellery and petroleum and there is a need to sustain the gains in areas like pharma, and food products.

Taking about trade agreements, he said that India has implemented 10 free trade pacts and six preferential trade agreement. He said ‘we have FTAs (free trade agreement) with major economic powers including with Japan, Korea and ASEAN, and we have not done badly in FTA and we are serious about growing this space.’ He pointed out that India is emerging as a major investment destination hub in the world and the government is taking steps in that direction. He added that huge investment opportunities are there in the services sector like finance, and insurance.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15293.75, up by 118.95 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 15276.05 and 15336.30. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.11%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.09%, JSW Steel up by 2.97%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.28% and Tata Steel up by 2.15%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.84%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.34%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.21%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.94% and Britannia Industries down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite soared 76.72 points or 1.22% to 6,341.40, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 21.88 points or 0.14% to 16,201.44, Shanghai Composite gained 13.03 points or 0.38% to 3,449.86, Nikkei 225 surged 499.33 points or 1.71% to 29,710.97, KOSPI rose 40.63 points or 1.35% to 3,054.33 and Straits Times advanced 2.17 points or 0.07% to 3,108.18.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 73.73 points or 0.25% to 29,311.88.