Bulls take charge over markets to join global rally

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Friday tracking firm trade in global peers on expectations of a strong economic recovery in China. Closer home, BJP's strong performance in the assembly polls in the northeastern states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya also added support to the markets. Domestic indices are trading in fine-fettle with gains over 0.80% each on account of value buying. Sensex and Nifty surpassed their crucial 59300 and 17450 levels, respectively. Foreign fund inflows added support to domestic sentiments. The National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 12,770.81 crore on March 2. Sentiments got a boost as Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran expressed hope that the GDP growth for the current financial year will exceed the projected 7 per cent in view of the expected revision of high frequency data.

Besides, rupee jumped 32 paise to 82.28 in early deals from its previous close of 82.60 vs the US dollar amid fall in value of greenback against a basket of six peers and mixed movement in global crude oil benchmarks. Sectorally, utilities and power stocks were in focus as Crisil report said that power prices are expected to remain firm next fiscal on the back of elevated demand growth of 5.5-6 per cent, and the demand is set to close this fiscal up 9.5-10 per cent over 8.2 per cent last fiscal. In stock specific developments, Adani Group stocks are buzzing after the embattled group sold minority stakes in four of its listed companies to U.S.-based GQG Partners for Rs. 15,446 crore. Natco Pharma rallied on share buyback news.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59388.44, up by 479.09 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 59231.58 and 59454.08. 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 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.00%, Power up by 1.80%, PSU up by 1.78%, Bankex up by 1.04%, Energy up by 0.89%, while Realty down by 0.05% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.65%, Power Grid up by 2.09%, Indusind Bank up by 1.75%, HCL Technologies up by 1.44% and NTPC up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.50%, Sun Pharma down by 0.21% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.07% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, days after National Statistical Office (NSO) in its second advance estimate maintained the growth projection of 7 per cent for current fiscal year (FY23), Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has expressed hope that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the current financial year will exceed the projected 7 per cent in view of the expected revision of high frequency data. Real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 159.71 trillion as against the first revised estimate of GDP for the year 2021-22 of Rs 149.26 trillion.

Nageswaran said the rising interest rates need not necessarily be a cause of lower growth but simply reflects the fact that there is healthy underlying demand for credit. He said real interest rate is not very high at the moment, and added that there is pent up demand in certain sectors. Regarding rural inflation remaining high, he said it doesn't take into account the fact that bulk of the population may be getting their essential food grains at zero cost.

On the economic benefit of digitisation, he said that digital transactions enable increase in formalisation. He further said ‘My guesswork is that it is adding between 30 and 50 basis points per annum to the provisional GDP... Nobody has yet done the proper estimation of what the digital infrastructure is adding to the overall potential economic growth (and) that needs to be worked out’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17462.90, up by 141.00 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 17427.70 and 17487.10. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 8.72%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 6.77%, SBI up by 3.40%, Power Grid up by 1.88% and Indusind Bank up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.46%, Divi's Lab down by 0.41%, Sun Pharma down by 0.36%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.20% and Cipla down by 0.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 415.63 points or 1.49% to 27,914.50, Hang Seng advanced 147.36 points or 0.72% to 20,576.82, Taiwan Weighted added 60.67 points or 0.39% to 15,659.39, Straits Times rose 12.07 points or 0.37% to 3,246.97, Shanghai Composite strengthened 5.67 points or 0.17% to 3,316.32 and KOSPI increased 4.34 points or 0.18% to 2,432.19, while Jakarta Composite was down by 24.4 points or 0.36% to 6,833.02.