Markets continue to trade in high spirit; Nifty above 14,750 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in morning session, on account of broad-based buying in blue chip counters amid positive Asian cues. Sentiment remained upbeat with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, after meeting Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, said India and the United States will look at ways to expand its trade relations and cooperate on pending bilateral issues. The sentiments also remained on optimistic note as Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K. V. Subramanian asserted that the disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for 2021-22 was ‘eminently achievable’. He said the proposed initial public offering (IPO) by LIC itself could garner Rs 1 lakh crore for the government. He also said targeting of retail inflation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has helped bring down the volatility and level of inflation. Meanwhile, the government is unlikely to take zero-coupon bond route to further recapitalise public sector banks after the Reserve Bank expressed some concerns in this regard. The government would resort back to recapitalisation bonds bearing a coupon rate for capital infusion in these banks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as investors shook off earlier worries about a hedge fund default that roiled global banking stocks overnight, while rekindled concerns about inflation pushed bond yields higher. Back home, on the sectoral front, Coal industry stocks remained in focus with a private report that India's coal import dropped 13.6 per cent to 196.13 million tonne (MT) in the April-February period of the ongoing fiscal year. The country had imported 227.23 MT of coal in the year-ago period.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49811.85, up by 803.35 points or 1.64% after trading in a range of 49331.68 and 49853.46. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.58%, Basic Materials up by 2.08%, Utilities up by 2.06%, Consumer Durables up by 2.02% and IT up by 1.86%, while Realty down by 0.24% was the lone losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.70%, ONGC up by 3.52%, Titan Company up by 3.21%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.06% and HDFC up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.53% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India's goods exports will stand at $290 billion for the financial year ending March (FY21), 7 percent short of the shipments in the previous fiscal. However, he said this was great considering the country has bounced back so quickly in a challenging year. India's goods exports stood at $313 billion in FY20.

The minister stated that it will be a record year in terms of FDI inflows for India, despite the pandemic and the fact that all international statistics suggest that foreign investments across the world are going to significantly fall in the current months. Observing that India was amongst the rare countries which saw FDI growth in 2020, Goyal said he has absolutely no doubt it will be a record FDI.

Goyal also expressed confidence that going forward, India will be able to overtake China in its engagement with Bangladesh. He said India has been working relentlessly to build strong relations with all its neighbouring countries. He also said India's ability to add more value to the products and services has helped it expand trade ties with countries like Bangladesh. However, he added that India does not hold a grudge against any country for its engagement with anybody else and focuses only on what it can do with that country better.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14752.10, up by 244.80 points or 1.69% after trading in a range of 14617.60 and 14764.65. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 4.31%, Tata Steel up by 4.28%, UPL up by 4.24%, NTPC up by 3.65% and Shree Cement up by 3.43%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.24%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.12% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 334.46 points or 1.18% to 28,672.76, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 41.59 points or 0.25% to 16,517.56, KOSPI rose 33.38 points or 1.1% to 3,069.42, Straits Times advanced 22.01 points or 0.69% to 3,197.58 and Shanghai Composite gained 20.14 points or 0.59% to 3,455.44.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 11.42 points or 0.04% to 29,373.10 and Jakarta Composite lost 69.68 points or 1.13% to 6,097.14.