Markets continue to trade in fine fettle

Domestic equity markets continued to trade in fine fettle in late morning deals on account of hectic buying by funds and retails investors. Gains in markets were led by bank, IT and metal stocks. Firm cues from other Asian markets also supported domestic sentiments. Sentiments got support with strong manufacturing data from China. Further, support also came in as Moody's Investors Service raised India's economic growth estimate for 2023 to 5.5 per cent from 4.8 per cent pegged earlier, on the back of a sharp increase in capital expenditure in the Budget and a resilient economic momentum. Traders were also getting encouragement as production of eight infrastructure industries - the core sector - expanded 7.8% year-on-year (YoY) in January, its fastest pace in four months, owing to a lower base and a near all-round showing.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green after China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported its official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.6 in February, the highest since April 2012. Back home, in the stock specific development, Adani Enterprises soared on receipt of Letter of intent (LoI) in respect of Kutrumali bauxite block in Odisha.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59375.79, up by 413.67 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 59109.54 and 59390.47. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.01%, while Small cap index up by 1.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.83%, Realty up by 1.61%, PSU up by 1.06%, Bankex up by 1.03% and IT up by 1.00%, while there were no losing indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.07%, SBI up by 1.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.76%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.68% and TCS up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.69% and NTPC down by 0.09% were only losers.

Meanwhile, the output of eight core industries increased at a four-month high of 7.8 per cent in January 2023 as against 4 per cent in the same month of previous year, led by a sharp uptick in fertiliser production and double-digit growth in coal mining and electricity generation. Core sectors’ output had grown 7.4 per cent in December 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 13.4 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 16.1 per cent during April to January 2022-23 over corresponding period of the previous year. Natural Gas production, having 6.88 per cent weight increased by 5.3 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 1.4 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Petroleum Refinery production, having 28.04 per cent weight increased by 4.5 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 5.4 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production, having 2.63 per cent weight increased by 17.9 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 10.5 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production, having 17.92 per cent weight increased by 6.2 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 7.1 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Cement production, having 5.37 per cent weight increased by 4.6 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 10.0 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation, having 19.85 per cent weight increased by 12.0 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022 and its cumulative index increased by 10.1 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year. However, crude oil production, having 8.98 per cent weight declined by 1.1 per cent in January, 2023 over January, 2022. Its cumulative index declined by 1.3 per cent during April to January, 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17427.65, up by 123.70 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 17345.25 and 17437.10. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 13.71%, Adani Ports up by 2.87%, Hindalco up by 2.71%, Axis Bank up by 2.06% and SBI up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 1.72%, Power Grid down by 1.69%, SBI Life down by 0.60%, Cipla down by 0.37% and Tata Consumer Products down by 0.36% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Taiwan Weighted added 87.8 points or 0.56% to 15,591.59, Hang Seng advanced 643.13 points or 3.25% to 20,429.07, Shanghai Composite strengthened 24.06 points or 0.73% to 3,303.67, Jakarta Composite gained 2.59 points or 0.04% to 6,845.83, Straits Times rose 3.25 points or 0.1% to 3,265.88 and Nikkei 225 surged 70.02 points or 0.26% to 27,515.58.