Positive trade continues over Dalal Street; Sensex, Nifty maintain gains

Positive trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty maintaining their strong gains. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain strong. Domestic sentiments remained optimistic, as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that the Centre is providing fiscal stimulus of more than Rs 27 lakh crore as part of the Aatmanirbhar financial package. Gangwar said that the government increasing public expenditure on various schemes run by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after producer prices in Japan were up 0.4 percent on month in February. The Bank of Japan said that was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.5 percent and was unchanged from the January reading. On a yearly basis, producer prices sank 0.7 percent - in line with expectations following the 1.6 percent decline in the previous month. Export prices were up 1.4 percent on month and 0.3 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices jumped 4.1 percent on month but lost 3.5 percent on year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 51660.04, up by 380.53 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 51583.00 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 0.86%, while Small cap index was up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.34%, Power up by 2.07%, Capital Goods up by 1.60%, Oil & Gas up by 1.37% and Telecom up by 1.25%, while Auto down by 0.17% and FMCG down by 0.14% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.51%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.17%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.11%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.07% and HDFC Bank up by 1.94%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.43%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.07%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.50%, Nestle down by 0.45% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in its latest report has showed that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is likely to enter a double-digit growth trajectory and may grow at more than 11 per cent in the next financial year, as economic activities gather pace and investor sentiments revive. A sharp recovery in GDP growth in Q3 FY 2020-21 at 0.4 per cent as compared with a contraction of 7.3 per cent in Q2 and 24.4 per cent in Q1 2020-21 (as per revised NSO estimates) is a result of impactful reforms undertaken by the government since March 2020.

Sanjay Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said ‘As a result of recovering investor sentiment, the economy has potential to accelerate at 11 per cent growth trajectory in the next financial year 2021-22 as envisioned by the FY 2020-21 Economic survey of the Government of India’. Aggarwal noted that the series of broad-based policy measures undertaken by the government during the last 11 months have enhanced the economic activity at significantly higher level.

PHDCI Economy GPS Index was 103 in February 2020, with an improvement of 19 points in February 2021 over February 2020. The trend in PHDCCI Economy GPS Index shows that the Indian economy is moving forward in the direction of improved momentum as compared to that of its level in February 2020, according to the President of the industry body. The PHDCCI Economy GPS Index during the period April-February of FY 2020-21 stands at 92.4 as compared with April-February FY 2019-2020 at 99.5. The growing trend of PHDCCI Economy GPS Index indicates a stronger outlook of the Indian economy in the FY 2021-22.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15281.70, up by 106.90 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 15261.10 and 15336.30. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.24%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.09%, Power Grid up by 2.49%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.22% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.07%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.45%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.42%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.34%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.09% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.97% 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.