Markets trade firm in early deals; Sensex jumps 400 points

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Wednesday tracking positive cues from Wall Street after strong US retail sales data signalled strength in the world's biggest economy. Domestic indices are trading firm in early deals with gains of over 0.60% each, with Sensex and Nifty surpassing 61,600 and 18,100 levels, respectively. Foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 432.15 crore on February 15, NSE's provisional data showed. Traders took encouragement with Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure with a view to promote growth. On the sectoral front, oil industry stocks were in focus after the Centre cut the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil from Rs 5,050 per tonne to Rs 4,350 per tonne. In stock specific development, Bharat Dynamics gained after it launched three new products during the ongoing Aero India - 2023 event in Bengaluru.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61675.85, up by 400.76 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 61445.41 and 61678.47. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.35%, Power up by 1.32%, IT up by 1.11%, Oil & Gas up by 1.09%, Energy up by 1.08%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.90%, Sun Pharma up by 1.37%, Reliance Industries up by 0.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.87% and Infosys up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 0.18% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.13% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to promote growth, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the effort of the government over the years has been to increase public expenditure. She said that the government in the 2023-24 budget increased the capital expenditure by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore.

The minister further said ‘Consistently for the last three-four years, the emphasis has been given on public capital expenditure. We have kept that up in this budget...capital expenditure, clearly can be said as a real focus of this budget’.

Regarding inclusion of petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, she said it could be done if there is an agreement among the states. She further said that the states were being nudged to carry forward reforms in various sectors including power and also implement the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18131.65, up by 115.80 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 18061.15 and 18134.75. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.92%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.15%, Apollo Hospital up by 3.08%, ONGC up by 3.08% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.04%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.41%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.28%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.08%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.03% and Grasim Industries down by 0.01% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 475.11 points or 2.28% to 21,287.28, Nikkei 225 surged 186.12 points or 0.68% to 27,687.98, Taiwan Weighted added 150.98 points or 0.98% to 15,583.87, KOSPI increased 44.16 points or 1.82% to 2,472.06, Straits Times rose 39.61 points or 1.21% to 3,320.43 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 25.36 points or 0.77% to 3,305.85, while Jakarta Composite was down by 12.64 points or 0.18% to 6,901.90.