Markets add points in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets once again added gains in late afternoon session, breaching their crucial 60100 (Sensex) and 17900 (Nifty) levels. Energy, IT and TECK counters were on the priority list of the buyers. Sentiments remained upbeat even after former Reserve Bank Governor C Rangarajan stated that India becoming a $five trillion economy by 2025 is impossible under the current circumstance and the country needs to grow at nine per cent per annum for the next five years in order to achieve that. Further, he said few years ago, there was the hope that India would become a $five trillion strong economy by 2025. That has become impossible. India's economy was $2.7 trillion strong in 2019. At the end of March 22, India will still be at the same level. Sector wise, infrastructure sector remained in focus, as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the US has huge investment surpluses which can be used in India for promoting infrastructure investments and also to make India a manufacturing base to help American economy grow and provide goods and services at affordable and competitive prices.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after a global rally as US lawmakers voted to avert a catastrophic debt default, while attention now turns to the release of key jobs data later in the day that could determine the Federal Reserve's plans for tapering monetary policy.  European markets were trading mostly in red s declines in the technology sector more than offset gains in oil and auto shares, while investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. payrolls data.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60,163.29, up by 485.46 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 59830.93 and 60212.30. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.26%, while Small cap index was up by 0.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 2.05%, IT up by 1.99%, TECK up by 1.63%, Industrials up by 0.67% and Metal was up by 0.56%, while Realty down by 2.64%, FMCG down by 0.57%, Power down by 0.41%, Healthcare down by 0.31% and PSU was down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.91%, Infosys up by 1.90%, TCS up by 1.70%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.58% and Tata Steel up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.39%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.98%, NTPC down by 0.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.76% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to meet the shortfall in GST Compensation, the Ministry of Finance has released an amount of Rs 40,000 crore to the States and UTs with Legislature under the back-to-back loan facility.  With the current release, the total amount released in the current financial year as back to back loan in-lieu of GST compensation has reached to Rs 1,15,000 crore. This release is in addition to normal GST compensation being released every 2 months out of actual cess collection.

All eligible States and UTs (with Legislature) have agreed to the arrangements of funding of the compensation shortfall under the back-to-back loan facility. For effective response and management of COVID-19 pandemic and a step-up in capital expenditure all States and UTs have a very important role to play.

For assisting the States/UTs in their endeavour, Ministry of Finance has frontloaded the release of assistance under the back-to-back loan facility during FY 2021-22 of Rs 1,15,000 crore (more than 72 percent of the total estimated shortfall for the entire year). The balance amount will be released in due course. This release will help the States/UTs in planning their public expenditure among other things, for improving, health infrastructure and taking up infrastructure projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17,932.70, up by 143.05 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 17840.35 and 17941.85. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 3.18%, Tata Motors up by 3.09%, Wipro up by 3.08%, Infosys up by 2.08% and UPL up by 2.05%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.26%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.21%, Shree Cement down by 1.07%, NTPC down by 1.02% and Divi's Lab down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 370.73 points or 1.34% to 28,048.94, Hang Seng increased 136.12 points or 0.55% to 24,837.85, Jakarta Composite soared 65.37 points or 1.02% to 6,481.77, Shanghai Composite gained 24.00 points or 0.67% to 3,592.17 and Straits Times was up by11.34 points or 0.37% to 3,112.49. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 3.16 points or 0.11% to 2,956.3 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 73.43 points or 0.44% to 16,640.43.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 16.82 points or 0.25% to 6,583.37 and Germany’s DAX was down by 34.36 points or 0.23% to 15,216.50. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 2.90 points or 0.04% to 7,080.94.