Markets trade firm in early deals; Sensex above 58,200 mark

Indian equity benchmark indices extended their previous session’s gains with optimistic start on Wednesday tacking gains on global markets. Domestic indices are trading firm in early deals with gains over 0.70% each on account of buying in Auto, Consumer Durables and IT stocks. Investors are eyeing the outcome of the RBI's policy review due this week. Sentiments got a boost as the preliminary data of the commerce ministry showed that India’s exports grew by 28.51 per cent to $8.67 billion during February 1-7 on account of healthy growth in sectors such as petroleum, engineering and gems and jewellery. The exports during the first week of this month rose by about 31 per cent. According to the data, $8.67 billion per week is almost 20 per cent more than the weekly run rate of $ 7 billion clocked this year. Adding more optimism, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said the rise in international fuel and commodity prices may not continue going forward.

Global cues remained supportive with all the Asian markets trading higher following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, on continued bargain hunting and as traders digest the latest batch of quarterly earnings news, with strong gains in technology and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy stocks as oil prices fell sharply for a second straight session. Back home, insurance industry stocks were in focus as data from Irdai showed that the new business premium income of all the life insurance companies grew 2.65 per cent to Rs 21,957 crore in January 2022. The 24 life insurance companies had collected Rs 21,389.70 crore as the first year or the new business premium in January 2021. In scrip specific development, Latent View Analytics traded jubilantly as its net profit more-than-doubled to Rs 49.92 crore in Q3FY22 as compared to Rs 22.45 crore in Q3FY21.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58245.78, up by 437.20 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 58105.18 and 58333.83. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.15%, Consumer Durables up by 1.13%, IT up by 1.03%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.96%, Bankex up by 0.95%, while Utilities down by 0.23%, Power down by 0.16%, Oil & Gas down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.83%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.78%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.78%, Indusind Bank up by 1.74% and Titan Company up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.51%, NTPC down by 0.48%, SBI down by 0.11% and ITC down by 0.04% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, noting that the Union Budget does not stoke any inflationary pressure, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said the rise in international fuel and commodity prices may not continue going forward. He said the global slowdown is largely due to the slowdown of the two largest economies, the US and China. He said ‘the budget is not going to be inflationary. I don't think there is any inflationary bias to the budget. Yes, of course, there will be globally imported inflation. The IMF has said that global economy will slow down from 5.9 to 4.8 per cent. That slowdown is largely, almost totally, the result of the slowdown of the two largest economies, the US and China’.

Kumar further said ‘so, I think that particular pressure on commodity prices, including oil prices, would soften, would subside. Therefore, I expect that the fuel and commodity prices need not continue to rise as they have done in 2021’. However, he said the major concern is food inflation which can be managed better through administrative and other measures. On the Budget, he said it seeks to lay a solid foundation for achieving a digitally-empowered India, with world-class infrastructure and global-level education and health sectors, in the next 25 years and it also aims to improve inclusion, and targets those at the bottom of the pyramid.

He also said ‘I think the unifying theme for the budget is to lay the solid foundation for achieving our vision of a digitally-empowered India, with world class infrastructure and globally comparable education and health sectors in the next 25 years. I think this is the budget trying to lay the foundation for that’. He added the focus of the budget has been to address the constraints which are in the way of the country grasping the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution. He said the budget specifically mentions that other than innovation and sunrise sectors and frontier technologies, the government sees private investment as the principal driver of growth. He added that the budget seeks to yank the country's economy out of the shadows of the pandemic and lay down the foundation for a vibrant future.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17392.20, up by 125.45 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 17339.00 and 17421.75. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.15%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.04%, HCL Technologies up by 2.02%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.95% and Indusind Bank up by 1.76%. On the flip side, IOC down by 1.07%, NTPC down by 0.52%, Sun Pharma down by 0.41%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.26% and BPCL down by 0.25% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 302.42 points or 1.11% to 27,586.94, Straits Times rose 5.89 points or 0.17% to 3,407.63, Hang Seng jumped 495.82 points or 2.04% to 24,825.31, Taiwan Weighted advanced 111.07 points or 0.62% to 18,077.63, KOSPI added 18.96 points or 0.69% to 2,765.43, Jakarta Composite gained 45.21 points or 0.67% to 6,834.73 and Shanghai Composite was up by 13.74 points or 0.40% to 3,466.37.