Domestic indices trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start on Tuesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Markets are trading higher with gains of around half a percent each in early deals on the back of board based buying in Power, Industrials and Capital Goods counters. Broader indices -- BSE Mid and Small cap were outperforming larger peers with gains of around a percent each. Traders took encouragement as FICCI's latest quarterly survey on manufacturing assessed recovery of the sector for Q-3 (October-December 2020-21) and pointed that it is expected to regain the lost momentum in the Q-4. Meanwhile, India reported 40,611 the daily number of Covid-19 cases. The overall tally stands at 11,686,330, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the infection is at 160,200. Maharashtra recorded 24,645 new cases. Meanwhile, Delhi saw as many as 888 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower, trimming their initial gains. Investors were optimistic about the opening of the global economy as vaccination drives gather pace along with falling bond yields, which is generating buying interest in high-growth companies. Back home, Banks were broadly higher ahead of a Supreme Court verdict on various pleas seeking an extension of the loan moratorium that was announced almost a year ago. In scrip specific development, BEML rallied after the government received multiple expressions of interest for the privatization of the company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49973.53, up by 202.24 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 49826.31 and 50115.24. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.48%, Industrials up by 1.46%, Capital Goods up by 1.08%, Auto up by 0.93%, Utilities up by 0.77%, while Telecom down by 0.12%, Oil & Gas down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.54%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.37%, Axis Bank up by 1.09%, HDFC Bank up by 0.95% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.94%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.76%, NTPC down by 0.64%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.39% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the government has decided to cancel its Rs 20,000 crore borrowing scheduled for March 26, 2021 on review of cash balance position. This means, the government would be borrowing Rs 20,000 crore less than its target of Rs 12.8 lakh crore announced in the Budget on February 1 for the current fiscal. According to the Revised Estimate, the gross borrowing for the current financial year was raised to Rs 12.8 lakh crore as against the Budget Estimate of Rs 7.8 lakh crore, registering an increase of 64 per cent.

In a Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said ‘the gross borrowing from the market for the next year (2021-22) would be around Rs 12 lakh crores. We plan to continue with our path of fiscal consolidation, and intend to reach a fiscal deficit level below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-2026 with a fairly steady decline over the period.’

The government raises money from the market to fund its fiscal deficit through dated securities and treasury bills. As a result, net borrowing would come down to Rs 9.24 lakh crore for the next fiscal, while for the current fiscal it is estimated at Rs 10.52 lakh crore during 2020-21. The Budget has pegged fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent for the next fiscal, down from 9.5 per cent of the GDP in the current financial year. The fiscal deficit in RE 2020-21 is pegged at 9.5 per cent of GDP.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14799.30, up by 62.90 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 14743.40 and 14843.95. There were 36 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.31%, Tata Motors up by 2.33%, Indusind Bank up by 1.67%, UPL up by 1.49% and Divis Lab up by 1.37%. On the flip side, IOC down by 2.17%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.92%, Power Grid down by 0.87%, NTPC down by 0.50% and Britannia Industries down by 0.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 28.67 points or 0.10% to 29,145.48, Hang Seng slipped 354.35 points or 1.23% to 28,530.99, KOSPI lost 11.02 points or 0.36% to 3,024.44, Jakarta Composite fell 9.86 points or 0.16% to 6,291.27, and Shanghai Composite was down by 40.88 points or 1.19% to 3,402.56. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 6.51 points or 0.21% to 3,134.59 and Taiwan Weighted added 36.45 points or 0.23% to 16,225.67.