Bourses soar in late afternoon session

Tracing strong European cues, Indian equity markets soared higher in late afternoon session ahead of US ISM services data later tonight. Besides, Metal stocks lent support on hopes for a steady economic recovery in China as a private survey showed activity in the country's services sector expanded at the fastest pace in six months in February. Adani stocks lifted mood of the markets after US boutique investment firm GQG Partners Inc has bought shares worth $1.87 billion in four Adani group companies, marking the first major investment in the Indian conglomerate since a short-seller's critical report sparked a stock rout. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as strong economic data from China, Japan and Australia helped ease worries about global growth slowdown. European markets were trading higher as investors took stock of the slew of economic data published this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59873.52, up by 964.17 points or 1.64% after trading in a range of 59231.58 and 59895.09. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.34%, PSU up by 2.29%, Realty up by 2.22%, Utilities up by 1.99% and Metal was up by 1.77%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 5.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.95%, Indusind Bank up by 2.66%, Reliance Industries up by 2.59% and Tata Steel up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.22%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.96%, Sun Pharma down by 0.27%, Asian Paints down by 0.17% and Nestle down by 0.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector expanded at the strongest rate in 12 years in the month of February amid improvement in new business intakes and favourable demand conditions. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index surged to 59.4 in February from 57.2 in January. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- jumped to 59.0 in February from 57.5 in January.

The report noted that new orders placed with service providers rose further in February, with competitive pricing boosted sales. The latest upturn in sales was the nineteenth in consecutive months and the joint-strongest in 12 years. Although Indian service providers signaled a further increase in their expenses midway through the final fiscal quarter, the rate of input price inflation moderated to a 29-month low.

Meanwhile, the overall level of positive sentiment towards the year-ahead outlook for business activity was little-changed from January and remained below its long-run average. Marketing efforts and forecasts of demand resilience underpinned optimism, but some companies were concerned about competitive pressures and whether sales growth could be maintained.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17616.45, up by 294.55 points or 1.70% after trading in a range of 17427.70 and 17618.35. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 14.83%, Adani Ports up by 9.54%, SBI up by 5.28%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.94% and Reliance Industries up by 2.71%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.09%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.95%, Cipla down by 0.94%, Sun Pharma down by 0.19% and Britannia down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 428.6 points or 1.53% to 27,927.47, Hang Seng advanced 138.08 points or 0.67% to 20,567.54, Shanghai Composite strengthened 17.74 points or 0.53% to 3,328.39, Taiwan Weighted added 9.7 points or 0.06% to 15,608.42 and KOSPI was up by 4.22 points or 0.17% to 2,432.07. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 2.83 points or 0.09% to 3,232.07 and Jakarta Composite was down by 43.78 points or 0.64% to 6,813.64.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.72 points or 0.34% to 7,970.76, France’s CAC rose 39.96 points or 0.55% to 7,324.18 and Germany’s DAX was up by 136.95 points or 0.89% to 15,464.59.