Post Session: Quick Review

Extending winning streak for fifth straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended Monday’s trade with a gain of around one and half percent, recapturing their crucial 56,400 (Sensex) and 16,850 (Nifty) levels. Markets made a mildly positive start as traders took some support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country's merchandise exports have reached over $380 billion so far this fiscal till March 7 and are expected to reach $410 billion in 2021-22. Some support also came in as India's industrial growth in the month of January grew 1.3% year-on-year. It had slumped to a 10-month low of 0.4% in December 2021. Markets extended gains with traders taking encouragement with Fitch Ratings’ report that strengthening economic recovery and stable financial metrics will help state-owned banks have stable earnings during the next financial year, aided by the gradual unwinding of regulatory forbearance through the year. It also said private sector banks are better placed to reap the benefits of recovery and will continue to increase their market share both in credit as well as deposits.

Sentiments got boost in second half of the trade with markets kept moving northward till end as traders got some boost with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that prudent budget assumptions for FY23 will ensure that the macro-fundamentals will be able to hold-up in the near-term amid heightened concerns over the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Indian economy. Traders shrugged off report stating that wholesale price-based inflation grew at 13.11 per cent in February as food prices hardened. 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. Sentiments continued to remain jubilant with report that India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose by $394 million to $631.92 billion in the week ended March 4 led by a sharp jump in foreign currency assets. The forex reserves had declined by $1.425 billion in the previous week.

Firm opening in European markets too aided sentiments with all the major gauges trading in green on ease in oil prices. However, Asian markets ended 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. Back home, tea industry stocks remained in focus as a body of tea planters said exports of the commodity will be adversely impacted due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In scrip specific development, HDFC Bank advanced as the RBI lifted all restrictions on the private sector lender, permitting it to launch new digital initiatives.

The BSE Sensex ended at 56486.02, up by 935.72 points or 1.68% after trading in a range of 55556.47 and 56545.83. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.31%, IT up by 2.16%, TECK up by 2.15%, Auto up by 0.90%, Consumer Durables up by 0.87%, while Realty down by 1.73%, Oil & Gas down by 0.85%, Power down by 0.60%, Utilities down by 0.56% and Metal down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 3.76%, HDFC Bank up by 3.25%, SBI up by 3.14%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.92% and Axis Bank up by 2.78%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.66%, Sun Pharma down by 1.09%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.52% and Tata Steel down by 0.33% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports rose 25.10 per cent to $34.57 billion in February 2022 as compared to $27.63 billion in February 2021, on account of healthy growth in sectors like engineering, petroleum and chemicals. The trade deficit widened to $20.88 billion in February 2022 from $13.12 billion from the year-ago period.

As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, merchandise exports for the period April-February 2021-22 was $374.81 billion as against $256.55 billion during the period April-February 2020-21, registering a positive growth of 46.09 per cent. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in February 2022 were $26.75 billion, registering a positive growth of 19.01 per cent over $22.48 billion in February 2021. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports during April-February 2021-22 was $283.99 billion, an increase of 33.99 per cent over $211.95 billion in April-February 2020-21

On the other hand, merchandise imports in February 2022 were $55.45 billion, which is an increase of 36.07 per cent over imports of $40.75 billion in February 2021. Merchandise imports for the period April-February 2021-22 was $550.56 billion as against $345.54 billion during the period April-February 2020-21, registering a positive growth of 59.33 per cent. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $31.70 billion in February 2022 with a positive growth of 32.04 per cent over $24.01 billion in February 2021. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $332.94 billion in April-February 2021-22, recording a positive growth of 44.82 per cent, as compared to $229.89 billion in April-February 2020-21.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16871.30, up by 240.85 points or 1.45% after trading in a range of 16606.50 and 16887.95. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 3.77%, HDFC Bank up by 3.28%, SBI up by 3.15%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.02% and Axis Bank up by 2.78%. On the flip side, IOC down by 2.34%, ONGC down by 2.22%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.68%, Tata Motors down by 1.54% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.22% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green, Germany’s DAX jumped 430.71 points or 3.16% to 14,058.82, UK’s FTSE 100 jumped 47.12 points or 0.66% to 7,202.76 and France’s CAC was up by 151.63 points or 2.42% to 6,411.88.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday amid rising worries about the economic impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the various sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the Western allies. Meanwhile, 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. Chinese and Hong Kong markets succumbed to heavy selling pressure as the spreading new coronavirus outbreaks in China added to global uncertainties. Sentiment was also dented after data showed a sharp drop in February's new bank lending in China. However, Japanese shares advanced as oil prices continued to retreat and investors remained optimistic over the Russia-Ukraine peace talks.