Indices trade in fine fettle as finance minister announces Union Budget

Domestic equity indices continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals as market participants enlarged their positions amid Finance Minister (FM) announcing Union Budget. FM Nirmala Sitharaman budget speech is underway where she has put a focus on agriculture accelerator fund, green growth, youth employment.  Sentiments got boost as the finance ministry said the GST collection in January surged to over Rs 1.55 lakh crore, the second highest-ever mop-up. Traders ignored report that India's manufacturing industry started the year on a weaker note, expanding at the slowest pace in three months in January as output and sales growth slackened. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 55.4 last month from 57.8 in December. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Bankex, Metal, Industrials, Realty and Capital Goods, while selling was witnessed in Energy, Oil & Gas, Utilities and Power.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green following the broadly positive cues from US markets overnight.  The Japanese stock market was trading higher led by strong gains in technology and financial stocks. In the stock specific development, Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) soared after the company reported an all-time high profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 383 crore in December quarter (Q3FY23), which exceeds any previous full year PAT.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60044.14, up by 494.24 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 59807.68 and 60189.91. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.13%, while Small cap index up by 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.44%, Metal up by 1.21%, Industrials up by 1.21%, Realty up by 1.19% and Capital Goods up by 1.15%, while Energy down by 1.06%, Oil & Gas down by 1.00%, Utilities down by 0.88% and Power down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.97%, Tata Steel up by 2.05%, HDFC Bank up by 1.55%, HDFC up by 1.52% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.42% and ITC down by 0.21% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, the output of eight core industries increased at a three-month high of 7.4 per cent in December 2022 as against 4.1 per cent in the same month of previous year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, and electricity segments. The production of eight key sectors rose by 5.7 per cent in November 2022. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Coal production, having 10.33 per cent weight increased by 11.5 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 16.4 per cent during April to December 2022 over corresponding period of the previous year. Natural Gas production, having 6.88 per cent weight increased by 2.6 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 0.9 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Petroleum Refinery production, having 28.04 per cent weight increased by 3.7 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 5.5 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production, having 2.63 per cent weight increased by 7.3 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 9.6 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production, having 17.92 per cent weight increased by 9.2 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 7.7 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. 

Cement production, having 5.37 per cent weight increased by 9.1 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 10.6 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation, having 19.85 per cent weight increased by 10.0 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021 and its cumulative index increased by 9.8 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. However, crude oil production, having 8.98 per cent weight declined by 1.2 per cent in December, 2022 over December, 2021. Its cumulative index declined by 1.3 per cent during April to December, 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17788.35, up by 126.20 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 17731.65 and 17837.00. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.88%, Tata Steel up by 2.26%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.01%, Tata Consumer up by 1.89% and JSW Steel up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 5.37%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.45%, Sun Pharma down by 2.27%, UPL down by 1.12% and Coal India down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 98.88 points or 0.65% to 15,364.08, Hang Seng advanced 57.51 points or 0.26% to 21,899.84, Shanghai Composite strengthened 10.04 points or 0.31% to 3,265.71, KOSPI increased 15.28 points or 0.63% to 2,440.36, Jakarta Composite gained 30.74 points or 0.45% to 6,870.08, Straits Times rose 2.38 points or 0.07% to 3,368.05 and Nikkei 225 surged 14.32 points or 0.05% to 27,341.43.