Markets trade firm in early deals on value buying

Indian equity benchmarks snapped four-day losing streak as bulls took charge over Dalal Street with optimistic start on Wednesday. Traders got support as global sentiments improved on in-line US inflation report. The data showing a drop in US consumer prices in February contributed significantly to the positive mood in the market, allaying fears of an accelerated rate hike from the US Fed. The assurance from the US regulators that there won't be a relapse of the financial crisis from 15 years ago following the collapse of US lender Silicon Valley Bank over the weekend also helped lift sentiment. Soon, domestic indices trimmed some of their initial gains but continued to trade higher in early deals with value buying. Stocks from counters such as Capital Goods, Metal and Industrials remained on buyers’ radar. Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their crucial 58200 and 17,100 levels, respectively, and are trading higher with gains of over half a percent each.

Traders took some encouragement as Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the government is taking steps to make India a $5 trillion economy earlier than the International Monetary Fund’s forecast year of 2026-27. However, some cautiousness prevailed in the markets amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 3,086.96 crore on March 14, the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed. On the sectoral front, the tyre industry stocks were buzzing as Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association Chairman Satish Sharma said export of tyres from India is expected to rise by 15 per cent in the ongoing fiscal. In stock specific development, NBCC (India) rallied after it secured Rs 500 crore work order to construct Government Medical College and Hospital at Karaikal, Puducherry.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58237.18, up by 336.99 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 58157.08 and 58473.63. 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 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.30%, Metal up by 1.19%, Industrials up by 1.14%, Consumer Durables up by 1.09%, Bankex up by 0.75%, while Telecom down by 0.06%, Energy down by 0.03%, Oil & Gas down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.50%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.09%, Titan Company up by 1.92%, Tata Steel up by 1.64% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.04%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.58% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.37% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that the government is taking steps to make India a $5 trillion economy at an early date. Earlier, the IMF's World Economic Outlook said the size of the Indian economy will increase from $3.2 trillion in 2021-22 to $3.5 trillion in 2022-23 and cross $5 trillion in 2026-27. Observing that the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022 has impacted the world output, increased inflation in several countries and raised uncertainty in the world economy, the minister said ‘lower uncertainty in the global economic outlook will help the country become a $5 trillion-dollar economy earlier’.

He said some of the important measures taken by the government in the past to boost economic growth include the making of the National infrastructure pipeline of projects, push to capital expenditure, implementation of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, finalisation of the National Monetization Pipeline of public sector assets and formulation of National Logistics policy. He further said that capital expenditure will be speeded up by PM Gatishakti for integrated planning of infrastructure and synchronised project implementation across all concerned central ministries, departments and state governments.

He noted that the Union Budget 2023-24 further sustains the growth momentum with an increase in capital investment outlay for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of GDP). The other initiatives to boost the economy include enhanced outlay for PM Awas Yojana, the launch of the Aspirational Blocks Programme covering 500 blocks for saturation of essential government services; an increase in agriculture credit target to Rs 20 lakh crore with a focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries; and setting up of Agriculture Accelerator Fund to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas, among others.

The minister also said that the direct capital investment by the Centre is being complemented by the provision made for the creation of capital assets through grants-in-aid to states. In order to improve logistics performance, he said one hundred critical transport infrastructure projects for last and first-mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified and will be prioritised for development.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17149.00, up by 105.70 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 17125.10 and 17211.35. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 2.53%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.14%, UPL up by 2.06%, Titan Company up by 1.96% and Hindalco up by 1.75%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.21%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.51%, ONGC down by 0.42% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.29% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng jumped 223.78 points or 1.15% to 19,471.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 123.76 points or 0.8% to 15,484.18, Nikkei 225 surged 52.28 points or 0.19% to 27,274.32, Straits Times rose 35.72 points or 1.13% to 3,165.47, KOSPI increased 33.11 points or 1.39% to 2,382.08, Shanghai Composite added 21.84 points or 0.67% to 3,267.15 and Jakarta Composite was up by 12.89 points or 0.19% to 6,654.70.