Sensex, Nifty trade firm in early deals on strong GDP data

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Friday reacting to the broadly positive cues from global markets as well as India’s encouraging GDP growth data. India's Q3 GDP registered a higher-than-expected 8.4 per cent growth on the back of good performance by the sectors such as construction, mining & quarrying and manufacturing. Domestic indices are trading firm in early deals with gains of over 0.80% in early deals amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 3,568.11 crore on February 29, provisional data from the NSE showed. Traders also took encouragement as Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said India’s post-pandemic robust economic momentum will continue for the fourth year in a row with a likely 7% expansion in the next financial year. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher buoyed by the bounce on Wall Street as a key U.S. inflation reading was in line with expectations. Market in South Korea is closed for Independence Day. Back home, auto stocks are in focus reacting to their monthly sales numbers. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73092.40, up by 592.10 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 72591.14 and 73115.79. 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 0.64%, while Small cap index was up by 0.86%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 2.29%, Metal up by 2.10%, Energy up by 1.80%, PSU up by 1.77% and Capital Goods up by 1.64%, while Healthcare down by 0.56% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.80%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.48%, JSW Steel up by 2.48%, Tata Motors up by 2.07% and Power Grid up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.71%, Infosys down by 0.51% and HCL Technologies down by 0.28% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), in its Second Advance Estimates (SAE) of National Income, 2023-24; Quarterly Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for October-December quarter (Q3) of 2023-24, has showed that India’s economy grew by better-than-expected 8.4 per cent in the October-December quarter of this fiscal (Q3FY24) - the fastest pace in one-and-half years. The GDP growth was 4.3 per cent in the October-December 2022 quarter. The growth rate in October-December was higher than 7.6 per cent in the previous three years.

The third quarter (October-December) growth came on the back of a double-digit (11.6 per cent) surge in the manufacturing sector. The services sector too saw a significant uptick, but the agricultural sector saw a modest contraction of 0.8 per cent during the quarter. Private consumption growth too was sluggish at 3.6 per cent, and according to some economists remains an area of concern in the context of high GDP growth. The growth rate in the third quarter and projections for the full fiscal mean that India will retain its fastest-growing economy tag, especially at a time when global growth is trending down.

The manufacturing sector’s output, as per the gross value added in the third quarter of this fiscal, grew by 11.6 per cent compared to a contraction of 4.8 per cent in the year-ago period. Mining and quarrying grew at 7.5 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.4 per cent a year ago. The construction sector kept the growth momentum at 9.5 per cent against the same growth rate in the year-ago period. However, the output of the farm sector declined by 0.8 per cent during the quarter compared to a growth of 5.2 per cent a year ago.

The national accounts data showed electricity, gas, water supply, and other utility services segment has grown by 9 per cent year-on-year against an 8.7 per cent rise. The GVA growth in the services sector - trade, hotel, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting - was 6.7 per cent during the third quarter against 9.2 per cent earlier. Financial, real estate and professional services grew by 7 per cent in the third quarter over 7.7 per cent. Public administration, defence and other services posted 7.5 per cent growth against 3.5 per cent in the third quarter of the last fiscal.

The NSO also released the second advance estimate for the current fiscal and pegged the economic growth at 7.6 per cent against 7.3 per cent estimated in the first advance estimate released in January. Real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2023-24 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 172.90 lakh crore, against the first revised estimates of GDP for the year 2022-23 of Rs 160.71 lakh crore. The nominal GDP or GDP at current prices in 2023-24 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 293.90 lakh crore against Rs 269.50 lakh crore in 2022-23, showing a growth rate of 9.1 per cent. The NSO revised downward the GDP growth for 2022-23 to 7 per cent from 7.2 per cent estimated earlier.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22161.85, up by 179.05 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 22047.75 and 22167.65. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.82%, ONGC up by 3.14%, Tata Steel up by 2.84%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.63% and JSW Steel up by 2.55%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.26%, Sun Pharma down by 0.76%, Infosys down by 0.41%, LTIMindtree down by 0.30% and SBI Life Insurance down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 709.5 points or 1.78% to 39,875.69, Hang Seng advanced 120.45 points or 0.72% to 16,631.89, Straits Times rose 3.16 points or 0.1% to 3,145.01 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.64 points or 0.09% to 3,017.81. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite fell 26.21 points or 0.36% to 7,289.90 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 5.69 points or 0.03% to 18,961.08.