Sensex, Nifty continue to trade with traction in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade with traction in morning deals following a strong rally in global equities after the US Fed raised interest rates. Besides, fresh foreign fund inflows and softening crude oil prices also helped domestic equities. Sentiments remained upbeat with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel’s statement that the bilateral trade in goods is projected to increase from the current $60 billion to $100 billion annually within five years of the implementation of the India-UAE free trade agreement. Some support also came with a private report stating that private equity and venture capital investments for the month of February 2022 were about $5.8 billion, 2.3 times the value recorded in February 2021 ($2.5 billion) and 24 per cent higher than investments in January 2022 ($4.6 billion). Meanwhile, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said as many as 347 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals, worth about Rs 75,951 crore, have been received by the government from countries sharing a land border with India since April 18, 2020.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, aided by a spike across all sectors after the U.S. Fed raised its benchmark short-term interest rate to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s. Back home, power stocks remained in watch as Power Minister R K Singh said electricity demand can beat all previous records and cross the 200 GW mark in March itself in view of soaring temperatures.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57857.99, up by 1041.34 points or 1.83% after trading in a range of 57518.06 and 57876.44. All the 30 stocks were advancing on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.23%, while Small cap index was up by 1.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.70%, Bankex up by 2.26%, Consumer discretionary up by 1.96%, Realty up by 1.95% and Telecom up by 1.67%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 4.44%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.56%, Titan Company up by 3.11%, Asian Paints up by 2.99% and HDFC Bank up by 2.49%, while there was no loser.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel has said the bilateral trade in goods is projected to increase from the current $60 billion to $100 billion annually within five years of the implementation of the India-UAE free trade agreement. 

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on the sidelines of the India-UAE Virtual Summit held on February 18. Patel said the India-UAE CEPA is a comprehensive and balanced partnership agreement that will give enhanced market access for India in both goods and services. 

She said that the UAE has offered immediate market access at zero duty from Day 1 of the entry into force of the agreement to products accounting for around 90 per cent of India’s exports to the UAE in value terms. As regards trade in services, the UAE has offered market access to India in around 111 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17258.90, up by 283.55 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 17175.75 and 17278.80. There were 45 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 4.43%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.34%, Titan Co up by 2.96%, Asian Paints up by 2.95% and Tata Consumer Produc up by 2.54%. On the flip side, IOC down by 1.07%, Cipla down by 0.37% and ONGC down by 0.21% were the few losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 1163.47 points or 5.79% to 21,250.97, Nikkei 225 surged 895.86 points or 3.48% to 26,657.87, Straits Times advanced 30.37 points or 0.92% to 3,321.27, KOSPI rose 47.23 points or 1.78% to 2,706.46, Shanghai Composite gained 82.25 points or 2.59% to 3,252.96 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 488.86 points or 2.89% to 17,429.69.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 6.59 points or 0.09% to 6,985.81.