Sensex, Nifty remain under grip of bulls

Indian equity benchmarks remained under a grip of bulls in early noon deals, with Sensex and Nifty holding gains of around a percent, aided by heavy buying at Utilities Power and Oil & Gas counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders were positive with a report from the National Statistical Office (NSO) showing that the annual per capita (net national income) at current prices is estimated at Rs 1,72,000 in 2022-23, up from Rs 86,647 in 2014-15, suggesting an increase of about 99 per cent. Adding more comfort among traders, Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Sanjiv Singh has said that the government is working to bring a national retail trade policy for brick and mortar retail traders, in order to promote ease of doing business,. He added that the policy would also help in providing better infrastructure and more credit to traders.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, amid reports that South Korea's consumer prices for February grew at their slowest pace in 10 months, bolstering views that the central bank is done with its current policy tightening cycle after it held rates steady last month. Statistics Korea data showed that the consumer price index rose 4.8% in February from a year before, easing from January's 5.2%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60400.93, up by 591.96 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 60005.65 and 60498.48. There were 26 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining, while one stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.88%, while Small cap index was up by 1.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.91%, Power up by 2.49%, Oil & Gas up by 1.88%, Energy up by 1.72% and TECK up by 1.70%, while Realty down by 0.52% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.72%, NTPC up by 2.58%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.55%, Infosys up by 2.42% and Tata Motors up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 0.25%, ICICI Bank down by 0.06% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) President Manish Raj Singhania has said automobile retail sales in India witnessed a double-digit year-on-year growth in February 2022 driven by robust sales across segments including passenger vehicles and two-wheelers. Total registrations across segments rose 16 per cent year-on-year to 17,75,424 units last month, as compared to 15,31,196 vehicles in February 2022.

Singhania stated that passenger vehicle retail sales rose 11 per cent to 2,87,182 units last month, against 2,58,736 units in the year-ago period. Two-wheeler registrations rose 15 per cent last month to 12,67,233 units, from 11,04,309 units in February 2022. The two-wheeler category witnessed a growth of 15 per cent year-on-year but was down 14 per cent when compared to the pre-Covid month of February 2020.

He further said total commercial vehicle retail sales in February grew 17 per cent to 79,027 units, as compared to 67,391 units in the same month last year. It, however, remained 10 per cent down when compared to pre-Covid month of February 2020. Three-wheeler retail sales witnessed a massive 81 per cent jump in registrations at 72,994 units, when compared with 40,224 units in February 2022. Similarly, tractor sales rose 14 per cent year-on-year to 68,988 units in February.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17760.30, up by 165.95 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 17671.95 and 17799.95. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 4.72%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.75%, NTPC up by 2.55%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.47% and Infosys up by 2.46%. On the flip side, Britannia Industries down by 2.30%, JSW Steel down by 0.43%, Indusind Bank down by 0.31%, Tata Steel down by 0.14% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 310.31 points or 1.1% to 28,237.78, Taiwan Weighted added 155.09 points or 0.98% to 15,763.51, Hang Seng advanced 97.51 points or 0.47% to 20,665.05, KOSPI increased 30.55 points or 1.24% to 2,462.62 and Straits Times rose 11.76 points or 0.36% to 3,243.78, while Jakarta Composite plunged 3.42 points or 0.05% to 6,810.22 and Shanghai Composite weakened 6.57 points or 0.2% to 3,321.82.