Energized bulls continue to scale highs

Energized bulls have scaled highs in afternoon session, after making a gap-up opening markets never looked back till now. Joining global celebration, benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty are currently trading past 58500 and 17450 levels respectively. Investors cheered Russia pledge to scale down fighting around Kyiv and a second major city following peace talks that Ukraine's leader said showed 'positive' signs, lifting hopes for ceasefire in the month long Russia-Ukraine war. Sentiments were also upbeat with Union minister Narayan Rane’s statement that the government is setting up a global market intelligence network to boost India's exports from the micro, small and medium enterprises sector. In another positive development, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market on Tuesday as they bought shares worth Rs 35.47 crore, exchange data showed.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher amid decline in corona virus concerns due to its milder symptoms and progress over Russian-Ukraine peace talks. Back home, the market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 2319:953, while 119 scrips remain unchanged. Besides, broader indices were also trading in green, supporting their larger peers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58548.63, up by 604.98 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 58176.00 and 58656.27. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 1.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.49%, Auto up by 1.21%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.20%, Industrials up by 1.13%, Bankex was up by 1.10%, while Metal down by 2.22%, Basic Materials down by 0.39%, Oil & Gas down by 0.17%, Healthcare down by 0.13% and PSU was down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.27%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.58%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.05%, Axis Bank up by 1.95% and Reliance Industries was up by 1.93%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.94%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.72%, ITC down by 1.32%, Sun Pharma down by 0.89% and NTPC was down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have reduced to Rs 7.73 lakh crore as of December 31, 2021, against Rs 10.36 lakh crore as of March 31, 2018, due to transparent recognition of stressed assets. She noted that primarily as a result of transparent recognition of stressed assets, gross NPAs of Scheduled Commercial Banks peaked at Rs 10,36,187 crore (gross NPA ratio of 11.8 per cent) as on March 31, 2018, from Rs 3,23,464 crore (Gross NPA ratio of 4.28 per cent) as on March 31, 2015, and as a result of government's strategy of recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reforms, have since declined to Rs 8,35,051 crore (Gross NPA ratio of 7.33 per cent) as on March 31, 2021, and further to Rs 7,73,470 crore (Gross NPA ratio of 6.39 per cent) as on December 31, 2021.

The minister also disclosed that as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, aggregate gross advances of SCBs increased from Rs 25,03,431 crore as of March 31, 2008, to Rs 68,75,748 crore as on March 31, 2014. As per RBI inputs, she said aggressive lending practices during this period along with wilful default/loan frauds/corruption in some cases, economic slowdown etc were observed to be primary reasons for the spurt in the stressed assets of SCBs and Asset Quality Review (AQR) initiated in 2015 for clean and fully provisional bank balance-sheets revealed high incidence of non-performing assets (NPAs).

Sitharaman stated that as a result of AQR and subsequent transparent recognition by banks, stressed accounts were reclassified as NPAs and expected losses on stressed loans, not provided for earlier under flexibility given to restructured loans, were provided for. She said comprehensive steps have been taken by the government to deter defaulters, and for effective action against and to recover the default amount from them, which enabled SCBs to recover Rs 8,19,892 crore during the last seven financial years and up to December 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17480.30, up by 155.00 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 17387.20 and 17513.90. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 3.24%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.20%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.75%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.74% and Bajaj Finance was up by 2.48%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.50%, Hindalco down by 4.30%, JSW Steel down by 2.56%, Tata Steel down by 1.99% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 191.90 points or 1.09% to 17,740.56, KOSPI rose 5.67 points or 0.21% to 2,746.74, Hang Seng increased 350.74 points or 1.6% to 22,278.37, Shanghai Composite gained 60.80 points or 1.9% to 3,264.74, Jakarta Composite soared 24.72 points or 0.35% to 7,036.41 and Straits Times was up by 2.87 points or 0.08% to 3,436.77.  On the other hand, Nikkei 225 was down by 225.17 points or 0.8% to 28,027.25.