Indices remain higher in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained higher in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in green terrain, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders were positive, as the income tax department stated that it has issued refunds worth over Rs 1.83 lakh crore to more than 2.09 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. This includes 1.70 crore refunds of the 2020-21 fiscal ended March 31, 2021, amounting to Rs 34,202.31 crore. Besides, the commerce ministry in its preliminary data has indicated that India's exports rose by 22.36 per cent to $33.81 billion in February 2022 on account of healthy growth in sectors like engineering, petroleum and chemicals. Imports during the month too jumped by about 35 per cent to $55 billion, with inbound shipments of petroleum and crude oil surging 66.56 per cent to $15 billion.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after the services sector in China continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower rate, the latest survey from Caixin showed on Thursday with a services PMI score of 50.2. That's down from 51.4 in January, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55601.10, up by 132.20 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 55466.13 and 55996.62. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48%, while Small cap index was up by 1.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.56%, Power up by 2.53%, IT up by 1.76%, Oil & Gas up by 1.60% and Metal up by 1.53%, while Auto down by 0.46%, Bankex down by 0.36%, Consumer Durables down by 0.30%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.23% and FMCG down by 0.16% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 3.37%, Power Grid up by 3.06%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.93%, HCL Tech. up by 2.55% and Tata Steel up by 2.21%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.81%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.76%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.57% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The commerce ministry in its preliminary data has indicated that India's exports rose by 22.36 per cent to $33.81 billion in February 2022 on account of healthy growth in sectors like engineering, petroleum and chemicals. Imports during the month too jumped by about 35 per cent to $55 billion, with inbound shipments of petroleum and crude oil surging 66.56 per cent to $15 billion. Trade deficit, difference between imports and exports, widened to $21.19 billion during the month as against $13.12 billion in the same month last year.

India's merchandise export in April 2021-February 2022 was $374.05 billion, an increase of 45.80 per cent over $256.55 billion in April 2020-February 2021. Imports during the 11-month period rose by 59.21 per cent to $550.12 billion. Trade deficit during this period widened to $176.07 billion as against $88.99 billion during April-February 2020-21.

According to the data, gold imports in February dipped by 11.45 per cent to $4.68 billion. Imports of electronic goods rose by about 29 per cent to $6.24 billion. Exports of engineering goods, petroleum and chemicals in February increased by 31.34 per cent, 66.29 per cent and 24.74 per cent to $9.27 billion, $4.1 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. Pharmaceutical exports, however, slipped by 3.13 per cent to $1.9 billion in February.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16643.25, up by 37.30 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 16606.25 and 16768.95. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.36%, Wipro up by 3.40%, Power Grid up by 2.96%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.84% and HCL Tech. up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.96%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 3.39%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.00%, Shree Cement down by 2.27% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 193.19 points or 0.73% to 26,586.22, Hang Seng increased 109.58 points or 0.49% to 22,453.50 Taiwan Weighted strengthened 66.31 points or 0.37% to 17,933.91, KOSPI rose 38.98 points or 1.44% to 2,742.50, Straits Times advanced 18.24 points or 0.56% to 3,262.64 and Shanghai Composite gained 3.35 points or 0.1% to 3,487.54.