Indian markets maintain upward momentum

Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in noon session, following gains in Bankex, Realty and Auto stocks. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Hindustan Unilever, Indusind Bank and Axis Bank. Expectation of positive outcome from Russia-Ukraine talks has also boosted market sentiments. In another positive development, crude oil showed highest single day fall in last two years after OPEC+ member the United Arab Emirate said it supporting pumping more oils into the markets which in supply crunch due to sanctions on Russian oil by the United States. If OPEC+ nations agreed to increase production could restrict gains of crude oil in upcoming session.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading firm following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, amid slightly easing worries about inflation following a drop in commodity prices. Back home, India and Canada are set to hold talks during March 10-13 to further strengthen the bilateral ties and discuss economic partnership, including a free trade agreement between both nations.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55858.41, up by 1211.08 points or 2.22% after trading in a range of 55564.83 and 56242.47. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.76%, while Small cap index was up by 2.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.98%, Realty up by 3.57%, Auto up by 3.07%, Industrials up by 2.72% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 2.58%, while Metal was down by 0.16% was only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 5.61%, Indusind Bank up by 5.43%, Axis Bank up by 4.92%, Bajaj Finserv up by 4.80% and SBI was up by 4.38%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra was down by 1.06% was only losers.

Meanwhile, Chemicals and Fertilizers minister Mansukh Mandaviya has exhorted the industry to take concrete efforts towards increasing local production of medical devices while stressing that the sector has huge potential for growth in the domestic as well in global markets.

The minister stated that manufacturing of medical devices in India shall be a significant step forward in strengthening the domestic supply chain. He urged industry participants to make concrete efforts toward increasing the localisation impact and deepen the domestic manufacturing of components. He also encouraged the industry players to work towards reducing the import-export trade gap in the sector.

Under the scheme, financial incentive is given to selected companies at the rate of 5 per cent of incremental sales of medical devices manufactured in India and covered under the target segments of the scheme, for a period of 5 years till 2027-28. The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs 3,420 crore. Till date, a total of 21 applicants have been approved for 49 products, with a potential to utilize incentive amount of Rs 2,541 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16694.50, up by 349.15 points or 2.14% after trading in a range of 16593.05 and 16757.30. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 6.09%, Hindustan Unilever up by 5.51%, Indusind Bank up by 5.38%, Grasim Industries up by 5.20% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 4.95%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.58%, ONGC down by 1.85%, Hindalco down by 1.62% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.16% were only losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 417.84 points or 2.46% to 17,433.20, Nikkei 225 surged 972.87 points or 3.94% to 25,690.40, Straits Times advanced 35.90 points or 1.12% to 3,231.28, Shanghai Composite gained 45.52 points or 1.4% to 3,301.91, KOSPI rose 53.99 points or 2.06% to 2,676.39, Hang Seng increased 167.83 points or 0.81% to 20,795.54 and Jakarta Composite was up by 5.05 points or 0.07% to 6,869.49.