Benchmarks extend gains in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks added more points in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 400 and 150 points, respectively. Traders took encouragement, after finance ministry said that GST collections grew to a record high of Rs 1.23 lakh crore in March 2021, crossing the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the sixth month straight, indicating rapid economic recovery post-pandemic. Some additional support also came, as foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have pumped in more than Rs 2.75 lakh crore ($37 billion) in the Indian equity market during FY2020-2021. This is the highest ever investment by foreign investors into Indian equities in the last two decades. Food processing sector remained in focus, as the government approved the PLI scheme for the sector, entailing an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore. On the global front, all Asian markets were trading higher, as investors welcomed Joe Biden’s economy-boosting infrastructure proposals today, sending regional markets higher, while optimism was also given a boost by a healthy US private jobs report. European markets were trading higher as optimism around a new U.S. government spending plan and strong factory activity data out of the euro zone eclipsed concerns about another lockdown in France.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49942.63, up by 433.48 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 49478.53 and 49943.27. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.19%, while Small cap index was up by 1.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 4.33%, Basic Materials up by 2.43%, Power up by 2.40%, Utilities up by 2.40% and Telecom was up by 1.77%, while Consumer Durables was down by 0.11% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.92%, Indusind Bank up by 2.41%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.28%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.05% and HCL Tech up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 0.64%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58%, HDFC Bank down by 0.53%, TCS down by 0.49% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a big relief to food manufacturing entities, the Union Cabinet has approved the Central Sector Scheme - ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI)’ to support creation of global food manufacturing champions commensurate with India's natural resource endowment and support Indian brands of food products in the international markets with an outlay of Rs 10900 crore.

The objectives of the scheme are to support food manufacturing entities with stipulated minimum Sales and willing to make minimum stipulated investment for expansion of processing capacity and Branding abroad to incentivise emergence of strong Indian brands.

The implementation of the scheme would facilitate expansion of processing capacity to generate processed food output of Rs 33,494 crore and create employment for nearly 2.5 lakh persons by the year 2026-27.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14842.05, up by 151.35 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 14692.45 and 14842.75. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 7.03%, Hindalco up by 6.10%, Adani Ports up by 5.62%, Tata Steel up by 4.45% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.18%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.63%, TCS down by 0.50%, HDFC Bank down by 0.50%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.47% and Nestle down by 0.44% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher, Hang Seng increased 560.39 points or 1.97% to 28,938.74, Nikkei 225 surged 210.07 points or 0.72% to 29,388.87, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 140.15 points or 0.85% to 16,571.28, KOSPI rose 25.98 points or 0.85% to 3,087.40, Jakarta Composite soared 25.94 points or 0.43% to 6,011.46, Shanghai Composite gained 24.42 points or 0.71% to 3,466.33 and Straits Times was up by 14.30 points or 0.45% to 3,179.64.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 44.17 points or 0.66% to 6,757.80, France’s CAC increased 24.87 points or 0.41% to 6,092.10 and Germany’s DAX was up by 88.98 points or 0.59% to 15,097.32.