Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with strong gains on Monday. After a negative start of the trading day, markets remained lower during morning deals, amid the worsening Russia-Ukraine crisis. Traders awaited official data on India's GDP for the October-December period due later in the day. Traders were concerned with a private report stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India in the third quarter of FY22 shrank almost 44% to $12 billion from $21.46 billion in the year-ago period.

However, indices staged recovery in afternoon deals, as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that after years of enduring challenges, the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are finally set to witness a normalisation in FY23. The NBFCs will start FY23 with sufficient capital buffers, stable margins and sizable on-balance sheet provisioning, while adequate system liquidity would aid funding. The agency, which maintained a 'neutral' sector outlook and 'stable' rating outlook for the NBFCs, said its expectations will hold true in the absence of any negative event.

Traders took some solace with NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya’s statement that India is poised to grow at 7-8% over the next decade and be the third largest economy by 2030 on the back of four big reforms by the government. This could even go up to 9-10% with increasing the size and scale of operation and doing away with protectionism. Besides, with an aim to enhance the ease of accessibility and usability of data disseminated in public by various data sources in securities market, Sebi has asked market intermediaries to make available such data to users, 'free of charge' both for 'viewing' and for download.

On the global front, European markets were trading lower, as Swiss economy grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter due to the restrictive measures associated with the pandemic weighed on activity. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, even after industrial output in Japan fell a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent on month in January. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that missed expectations for a decline of 0.7 percent following the 1.0 percent drop in December.

The BSE Sensex ended at 56247.28, up by 388.76 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 54833.50 and 56324.54. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.83%, while Small cap index up by 0.80%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 5.47%, Energy up by 2.90%, Basic Materials up by 2.71%, Oil & Gas up by 2.48% and Utilities up by 2.11%, while Auto down by 0.60% and Bankex down by 0.59% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 6.45%, Power Grid up by 5.40%, Titan Co up by 3.53%, Reliance Industries up by 2.98% and NTPC up by 2.61%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.81%, Axis Bank down by 2.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.01%, HDFC Bank down by 1.90% and HDFC down by 1.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to facilitate evidence-based decision making for effective public health interventions, the Union Cabinet has approved the national roll-out of Central Sector Scheme, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, with a budget of Rs.1,600 crore for five years. The National Health Authority (NHA) will be the implementing agency of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

Based on the foundations laid down in the form of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM) trinity and other digital initiatives of the government, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is creating a seamless online platform through the provision of a wide-range of data, information and infrastructure services, duly leveraging open, interoperable, standards-based digital systems while ensuring the security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.

Under the ABDM, citizens will be able to create their ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) numbers, to which their digital health records can be linked. This will enable creation of longitudinal health records for individuals across various healthcare providers, and improve clinical decision making by healthcare providers. The mission will improve equitable access to quality healthcare by encouraging use of technologies such as telemedicine and enabling national portability of health services.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16793.90, up by 135.50 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 16356.30 and 16815.90. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 7.46%, Tata Steel up by 6.58%, Power Grid up by 6.01%, JSW Steel up by 4.82% and BPCL up by 4.00%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.91%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.71%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.07%, Axis Bank down by 2.06% and HDFC Bank down by 2.05% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 127.40 points or 1.7% to 7,362.06, France’s CAC decreased 211.26 points or 3.13% to 6,541.17 and Germany’s DAX was down by 372.07 points or 2.55% to 14,195.16.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday as optimism over talks between Russia and Ukraine outweighed concerns over banning Russia from the Swift financial system. The EU, Britain and the U.S. are freezing the Russian central bank's assets, meaning they can't be deployed to intervene in currency markets. The Russian currency fell nearly 30 percent against the U.S. dollar after President Putin put Russian nuclear forces on high alert in an effort to deter NATO supplies from being sent into Ukraine. Japanese stocks fluctuated before ending slightly higher amid hopes that the planned talks between Russia and Ukraine at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border could lead to a ceasefire. Taiwan and Indonesia markets were closed for Peace Day and Isra Mikraj.