Bourses trade with strength in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets magnified their gains in late afternoon session ahead of weekly F&O expiry. Energy, Auto and IT stocks were witnessing buying interest. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading above a percent. Sentiments remained upbeat, as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has said India is one of the economies that are growing at a high rate. Even with the small downgrade, growth is projected for this year to be 8.2 percent. Healthy for India, but also positive in a world where growth slowdown is creating a major problem. Meanwhile, the government is likely to take a call on the timing of LIC initial public offering within this week. The sale of 5 per cent stake or 31.6 crore shares in the country's largest insurer was originally planned for in March, but was postponed in view of the geopolitical tension.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed amid inflation scare and growing optimism for another strong earnings season. Yields headed back towards multi-year highs as the debate continued on whether inflation is peaking. European markets were trading mostly in green following a series of positive earnings updates, while miners dropped more than 2% as Anglo American slumped after slashing its production outlook.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57876.20, up by 838.70 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 57311.86 and 57911.82. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.03%, while Small cap index was up by 1.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.62%, Auto up by 1.60%, IT up by 1.55%, Industrials up by 1.52% and TECK was up by 1.45%, while Metal down by 0.13% was the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.89%, Asian Paints up by 2.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.49%, Reliance Industries up by 2.43% and Infosys up by 2.29%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.05%, Tata Steel down by 0.80% and Power Grid down by 0.04% were only losers.

Meanwhile, the Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional Estimate of Net Payroll’ data report has showed that India created 1411803 new jobs in the month of February 2022.

As per the report, the maximum jobs were created in the age bracket of 22-25 and in this bracket the top sectors which have created more fresh jobs include Expert Services; Trading-Commercial Establishments; Establishment Engaged in Manufacture, Marketing Servicing; Engineers- Engineering Contractors; Building & Construction Industry; Financing Establishment and Hospitals. In the similar age bracket, Maharashtra was the first among the States to create maximum payroll, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi.

According to the data report, 5369 new jobs were created in less than 18 age group category, while 265446 jobs in 18-21 age group category. Further, 22-25 age, 26-28 age, 29-35 age and more than 35 age group category witnessed 369686, 202679, 297506 and 271117 new payrolls, respectively in February 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17381.80, up by 245.25 points or 1.43% after trading in a range of 17215.50 and 17388.70. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.92%, Eicher Motors up by 3.63%, Adani Ports up by 3.27%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.99% and Asian Paints up by 2.62%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.20%, Cipla down by 1.04%, Nestle down by 0.83%, Tata Steel down by 0.75% and Hindalco down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 surged 335.21 points or 1.23% to 27,553.06, Jakarta Composite soared 48.83 points or 0.68% to 7,276.19, Straits Times advanced 17.79 points or 0.53% to 3,353.11 and KOSPI was up by 9.52 points or 0.35% to 2,728.21. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 20.93 points or 0.12% to 17,127.95, Shanghai Composite declined 71.24 points or 2.26% to 3,079.81 and Hang Seng was down by 262.45 points or 1.25% to 20,682.22.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 96.51 points or 1.46% to 6,721.42 and Germany’s DAX was up by 146.88 points or 1.02% to 14,508.91. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 2.44 points or 0.03% to 7,626.78.