Markets trade at day’s high points in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks continued their upward rally and traded at day’s high points  in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 770 and 195 points, respectively amid oil prices extended last week's decline. Traders remained optimistic after the government sought Parliament nod for net additional spending of over Rs 1.07 lakh crore in the third batch of supplementary demands for current fiscal year. As per the third batch of supplementary demands for grants tabled in the Lok Sabha, approval is being sought for gross additional expenditure of over Rs 1.58 lakh crore. Traders took note of India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as the Russia-Ukraine war dragged on and investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week for clues about further interest rate hikes and policy tightening for the rest of the year. European markets were trading mostly in green with sentiment buoyed by lower oil prices.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56326.17, up by 775.87 points or 1.40% after trading in a range of 55556.47 and 56326.27. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.05%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.14%, TECK up by 1.85%, IT up by 1.81%, Telecom up by 0.95% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.67%, while Realty down by 1.71%, Oil & Gas down by 0.98%, Power down by 0.66%, Utilities down by 0.61% and Metal was down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 3.11%, HDFC Bank up by 3.04%, SBI up by 3.02%, ICICI Bank up by 2.60% and Axis Bank up by 2.52%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.59%, Sun Pharma down by 0.76%, Tata Steel down by 0.43%, NTPC down by 0.34% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest data has showed that India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) rose to 13.11% in the month of February 2022 as against 12.96% in January 2022. The high rate of inflation in February 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles and non-food articles etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. The WPI in February 2021 was at 4.83%.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased by 1.09% to 166.8 (provisional) in February, 2022 from 165.0 (provisional) for the month of January, 2022. Prices of Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (14.25%), Non-food Articles (3.28%) and Minerals (3.17%) increased in February, 2022 as compared to January, 2022. Prices of Food Articles (-0.87%) declined in February, 2022 as compared to January, 2022.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 4.35% to 139.0 (provisional) in February, 2022 from 133.2 (provisional) for the month of January, 2022. Prices of Mineral Oils (7.22%) increased in February, 2022 as compared to January, 2022. Prices of coal and electricity remain unchanged.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 0.95% to 138.4 (provisional) in February, 2022 from 137.1 (provisional) for the month of January, 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16828.90, up by 198.45 points or 1.19% after trading in a range of 16606.50 and 16829.45. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 3.14%, HDFC Bank up by 3.11%, SBI up by 3.04%, ICICI Bank up by 2.63% and Axis Bank up by 2.56%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.59%, Indian Oil down by 1.98%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.61%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.36% and Coal India down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 1022.13 points or 4.97% to 19,531.66, Shanghai Composite declined 86.22 points or 2.61% to 3,223.53, Straits Times trembled 24.85 points or 0.76% to 3,224.81, KOSPI fell 15.63 points or 0.59% to 2,645.65 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.70 points or 0.01% to 17,263.04. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 29.60 points or 0.43% to 6,952.20 and Nikkei 225 was up by 145.07 points or 0.58% to 25,307.85.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 25.32 points or 0.4% to 6,285.57 and Germany’s DAX was up by 236.00 points or 1.73% to 13,864.11. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 5.19 points or 0.07% to 7,150.45.