Markets continue to trade in high spirit

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in afternoon session as the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee (MPC) maintained an accommodative stance, keeping the repo rates unchanged. Addition support came in as RBI has enhanced the investment limit via UPI in IPOs and RBI Retail Direct Scheme for G-Secs to Rs 5 lakh. The current limit is Rs 2 lakh for making investments in IPO and or buying government bonds via RBI Retail Direct Scheme. In another positive development, global rating agency S&P stated that the impact of the new coronavirus variant on India's economic outlook would be contained. It expects India's economy to grow 9.5% in FY22 and 7.8% in FY23. All sectoral indices were trading firm and IT was the top gainer on BSE, up by around 2% followed by TECK and Basic Materials indices. Apart from blue chips, broader indices too equally participated in the rally with both mid and small cap indices trading up by over 1% each. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as investors cheered signs the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may be less disruptive to the world economy than first feared.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58481.95, up by 848.30 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 58122.27 and 58539.72. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.13%, while Small cap index up by 1.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.95%, TECK up by 1.88%, Basic Materials up by 1.46%, Industrials up by 1.43% and Bankex was up by 1.43%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.85%, ICICI Bank up by 2.71%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.45%, HCL Tech up by 2.33% and SBI was up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Power Grid was down by 0.70% was the only losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its bi-monthly monetary policy review has decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 4.0 per cent. This is the ninth time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has maintained the status quo

Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 4.25 per cent. The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis and continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward.

On the domestic front, the projection for real GDP growth is retained at 9.5 per cent in 2021-22 consisting of 6.6 per cent in Q3; and 6.0 per cent in Q4:2021-22. Real GDP growth is projected at 17.2 per cent for Q1:2022- 23 and at 7.8 per cent for Q2. Moreover, CPI inflation is projected at 5.3 per cent for 2021-22; 5.1 per cent in Q3; 5.7 per cent in Q4:2021-22, with risks broadly balanced. CPI inflation for Q1:2022-23 is projected at 5.0 per cent and for Q2 at 5.0 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17420.90, up by 244.20 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 17308.95 and 17436.30. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.84%, ICICI Bank up by 2.76%, Grasim Industries up by 2.51%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.35% and SBI was up by 2.26%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.24%, Divi's Lab down by 0.75% and Power Grid was down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Nikkei 225 surged 405.02 points or 1.42% to 28,860.62, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 35.50 points or 0.2% to 17,832.42, KOSPI rose 9.42 points or 0.31% to 3,001.14, Jakarta Composite soared 15.19 points or 0.23% to 6,617.76, Shanghai Composite was up by 33.17 points or 0.92% to 3,628.26.

On the flip side; Hang Seng decreased 7.61 points or 0.03% to 23,976.05 and Straits Times was down by 5.36 points or 0.17% to 3,129.30.