Post Session: Quick Review

Bulls roared on Dalal Street on Tuesday’s trading session, with both Sensex and Nifty ending higher. After an optimistic start, markets maintained their gaining momentum for the whole trading session as 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. Sentiments remained optimistic after 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.

Traders were positive, as amid uncertainty created by a surge in coronavirus cases, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to maintain the status quo at its next monetary policy review and wait for some more time before taking any action to spur growth. The RBI is slated to announce its first bi-monthly monetary policy of 2021-22 fiscal on April 7, 2021, after a three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. Indices added more gains in the second half of the session, as Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that 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.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher on hopes of a vaccine-driven economic recovery, while investors looked past the fallout of a U.S. hedge fund default that hit banking stocks a day earlier. Asian markets settled mostly higher on Tuesday, even after the total value of retail sales in Japan was down 1.5 percent on year in February, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Tuesday - coming in at 11.628 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 2.8 percent following the 2.4 percent drop in the previous month. On a monthly basis, retail sales jumped 1.4 percent after dropping 1.7 percent in January.

The BSE Sensex ended at 50136.58, up by 1128.08 points or 2.30% after trading in a range of 49331.68 and 50268.45. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.98%, while Small cap index was up by 1.30%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 3.51%, TECK up by 3.09%, Metal up by 2.54%, Healthcare up by 2.35% and FMCG up by 2.24%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 4.11%, HCL Tech. up by 3.91%, Infosys up by 3.69%, NTPC up by 3.60% and Hindustan Unilever up by 3.59%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.74%, Axis Bank down by 0.41% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.17% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, issuing directions to the banks for smooth clearing operation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that banks will conduct special clearing operations for the annual closure of government accounts on March 31, which is the last day of the current fiscal year.

With regard to the annual closing of accounts related transactions of the central and state governments, special measures are put in place for 2020-21, the RBI has instructed all the member banks to maintain sufficient balance in their clearing settlement account.

The RBI further noted that to facilitate accounting of all the government transactions for the current financial year 2020-21 by March 31, 2021, it has been decided to conduct special clearing exclusively for government cheques across the three CTS grids on March 31, 2021.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14845.10, up by 337.80 points or 2.33% after trading in a range of 14617.60 and 14876.30. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 7.27%, JSW Steel up by 5.00%, Tata Steel up by 4.32%, HDFC Bank up by 4.18% and HCL Tech. up by 3.89%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.54%, Axis Bank down by 0.41%, Hindalco down by 0.26%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.21% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.19% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 43.28 points or 0.64% to 6,779.45, France’s CAC increased 39.34 points or 0.65% to 6,054.85 and Germany’s DAX was up by 94.40 points or 0.64% to 14,912.12.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Tuesday kindled by the optimistic view over the global economic recovery, prospects of better Sino-US relations and vaccine rollout. Investors' sentiment also improved ahead to the release of US President Joe Biden's infrastructure plans on Wednesday, which is approximately $3 -$4 Trillion. China's Shanghai soared on better than expected corporate earnings with major gains in energy and health care sectors. Stronger US dollars also appreciated more investments to the equity market. `Globally, banking and financial sector stocks were weighed down with the concerns over larger hedge fund defaulting on margin call.