Firm trade persists over Dalal Street

Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty holding their notable gains, aided by positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at Metal and Realty counters. Sentiments were optimistic as the second advance estimates of national income showed that the Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture and allied activities is projected to clock its best growth in FY23 during the October-to-December quarter, at 3.7 per cent, on the back of a strong kharif harvest. In the third quarter of FY22, GVA in the sector was 2.3 per cent at constant prices. Adding some comfort, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that robust offtake from retail and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) increased credit to services by 21.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in January 2023 as against 5.7 per cent a year ago.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, as China's manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in seven months in February, driven by the upturns in production and new orders, suggesting a strong rebound in the first quarter following the easing of pandemic related restrictions. At 51.6, the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose from 49.2 in the previous month. This was the first expansion in seven months and the score was the second-highest since May 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59313.10, up by 350.98 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 59109.54 and 59416.42. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 1.01%, while Small cap index was up by 1.21%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.01%, Realty up by 1.63%, PSU up by 1.15%, IT up by 0.97% and Industrials up by 0.96%, while there were no losing sectoral indices.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 2.24%, SBI up by 1.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.66%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.64% and HCL Technologies up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.93%, ICICI Bank down by 0.07% and HDFC Bank down by 0.02% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service has raised India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 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. However, it revised downwards India's growth estimate for 2022 to 6.8 per cent from 7 per cent pegged in November last year.

Moody's said the upward revisions additionally incorporate the sharp increase in capital expenditure budget allocation to Rs 10 trillion (3.3 per cent of GDP) for fiscal year 2023-24, up from Rs 7.5 trillion for the fiscal year ending in March 2023. It also said India's growth projection has been meaningfully raised as strong data in the second half of 2022 created large carry-over effects for 2023.

It further said economic momentum in a number of large emerging market countries, including India, has proved more resilient to last year's tightening in the global and domestic financial environment than it had anticipated. It noted that an eventual let-up in monetary policy tightening in the US will help stabilise, if not improve, capital flows to emerging market countries. However, it said until inflation in advanced economies is firmly in check, emerging markets will remain vulnerable to bouts of heightened financial market volatility.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17413.10, up by 109.15 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 17345.25 and 17441.35. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 10.35%, Hindalco up by 2.92%, Axis Bank up by 2.31%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.85% and SBI up by 1.71%. On the flip side, Britannia down by 1.95%, Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.91%, Cipla down by 0.73%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.57% and Eicher Motors down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 768.97 points or 3.74% to 20,554.91, Taiwan Weighted added 94.7 points or 0.61% to 15,598.49, Nikkei 225 surged 70.97 points or 0.26% to 27,516.53, Shanghai Composite strengthened 27.4 points or 0.83% to 3,307.01, Jakarta Composite gained 11.75 points or 0.17% to 6,854.99 and Straits Times rose 1.25 points or 0.04% to 3,263.88.