Sensex, Nifty gain traction as FM declares schemes to boost growth

Indian equity benchmarks gained traction in late morning session, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declares schemes to boost growth such as ECLGS to be extended upto March 2023, guaranteed cover extended by another Rs 50,000 crore. Besides, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has said that banks' non-food credit growth accelerated to 9.3 percent in December 2021 from 6.6 per cent in the same period of the last year. Credit to agriculture and allied activities continued to perform well, registering a robust growth of 14.5 percent in December 2021 as compared to 7.7 percent in December 2020. Growth in loans to industry improved noticeably to 7.6 percent in December 2021 from 0.4 percent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, after the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That was shy of expectations for 2.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the November reading.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58772.87, up by 758.70 points or 1.31% after trading in a range of 58442.23 and 58929.52. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.38%, Bankex up by 1.31%, Metal up by 1.26%, IT up by 1.22% and TECK up by 1.16%, while PSU down by 0.38%, Oil & Gas down by 0.30%, Auto down by 0.20% and Consumer Durables down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 4.90%, Indusind Bank up by 3.46%, ICICI Bank up by 2.37%, Tata Steel up by 2.14% and HDFC up by 2.13%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.87%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.45%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.17%, Power Grid down by 0.12% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The growth of eight core infrastructure industries grew 3.8 percent in December 2021 as against 0.4 percent contraction in same month last year, on better show by coal, cement and refinery products. The core sector industries had grown by 3.4 per cent in November 2021. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).   

Coal production having 10.33 per cent weight increased by 5.2 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 10.6 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over corresponding period of the previous year. Natural Gas production having 6.88 per cent weight increased by 19.5 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 22.4 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 5.9 per cent weight increased by 5.9 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 10.0 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Cement production having 5.37 per cent weight increased by 12.9 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 26.1 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85 per cent weight increased by 2.5 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index increased by 9.4 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production having 2.63 per cent weight increased by 3.5 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020, while its cumulative index decreased by 0.1 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Steel production having 17.92 per cent weight declined by 1.0 per cent in December, 2021 over December, 2020, while its cumulative index increased by 22.1 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 8.98 per cent weight declined by 1.8 percent in December, 2021 over December, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 2.6 per cent during April to December, 2021-22 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17546.90, up by 207.05 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 17451.65 and 17596.10. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 4.89%, Britannia up by 3.81%, Indusind Bank up by 3.38%, ICICI Bank up by 2.47% and HDFC up by 2.17%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corp. down by 2.72%, Tata Motors down by 1.86%, BPCL down by 1.80%, ONGC down by 1.51% and SBI down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Tuesday with most of the markets in the region being closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Nikkei 225 surged 86.76 points or 0.32% to 27,088.74.