Markets continue upward rally in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 1500 and 400 points, respectively. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading with healthy gains. The overall market breadth was largely postive as 1870 shares were advancing and 1464 were declining, while 91 shares were unchanged on the BSE. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and Mahindra & Mahindra were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Sentiments remained upbeat after India’s overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in January 2022 are estimated to be $61.41 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 36.76 per cent over the same period last year and a positive growth of 38.90 per cent over January 2020. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as a cautious undertone prevailed against the backdrop of a hawkish Fed, rising oil prices and Russia-Ukraine tensions. European markets were trading higher on hopes that Ukraine and Russia will avoid a full-blown conflict.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57962.76, up by 1556.92 points or 2.76% after trading in a range of 56438.47 and 57971.04. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.38%, Bankex up by 3.15%, Telecom up by 2.97%, TECK up by 2.84% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 2.72%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 4.16%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.01%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.85%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.61% and Nestle up by 3.47%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.20% was only losers.

Meanwhile, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) has said that retail sales in January 2022 suffered due to the restrictions imposed by states in an attempt to curb the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic. In its latest business survey, it said retail sales in January were at 91 percent of the pre-pandemic sales levels of January 2019, as well as that of January 2020.

The survey revealed that in terms of region, the East zone witnessed the biggest drop last month with a 13 percent decline, as compared to January 2019, followed by West at 11 percent decline and North with a drop of 8 percent. South zone was the least impacted registering a 2 percent decline, as compared to January 2019.
Category-wise, it said beauty, wellness, and personal care were the worst hit with a drop of 24 percent as compared to January 2019, followed by furniture and furnishing with a drop of 12 percent and apparel and clothing registering a decline of 7 percent. However, the jewelry segment grew 11 percent in January this year, as compared to the same month in 2019 and quick-service restaurants also witnessed a growth of 9 percent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17286.50, up by 443.70 points or 2.63% after trading in a range of 16839.25 and 17300.30. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 5.22%, Shree Cement up by 5.03%, Hero MotoCorp up by 4.72%, Bajaj Finance up by 4.46% and Tata Motors up by 4.38%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.93%, ONGC down by 2.47% and Power Grid down by 0.22% were the only losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 214.40 points or 0.79% to 26,865.19, Hang Seng decreased 200.86 points or 0.82% to 24,355.71, Taiwan Weighted dropped 45.86 points or 0.25% to 17,951.81 and KOSPI was down by 27.94 points or 1.03% to 2,676.54. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 0.98 points or 0.03% to 3,422.18, Shanghai Composite gained 17.21 points or 0.5% to 3,446.09 and Jakarta Composite was up by 73.01 points or 1.08% to 6,807.50.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 72.67 points or 0.96% to 7,604.26, France’s CAC increased 101.49 points or 1.48% to 6,953.69 and Germany’s DAX was up by 173.08 points or 1.15% to 15,287.05.