Jubilation continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade jubilantly in morning deals, helped by impressive GDP data. India reported a faster-than-expected 8.4 per cent growth in Q3 GDP led by government capex spending. The National Statistical Office (NSO), which releases the data, revised upwards FY24 growth estimate to 7.6 per cent from the 7.3 per cent projected in January. Also, a rally in global markets along with fresh foreign fund inflows added to the positive momentum in the equity markets. Domestic sentiments remained buoyant with a labour ministry statement stating that retail inflation for industrial workers eased to 4.59 per cent in January 2024 compared to 4.91 per cent in December 2023 mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. Food inflation stood at 7.66 per cent in January 2024 against 8.18 per cent in December 2023. Food inflation was 5.69 per cent in January 2023 a year ago. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green following broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Slightly easing concerns about inflation and hopes that the US Fed will announce an interest-rate cut in the second quarter aided sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73226.85, up by 726.55 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 72591.14 and 73243.66. 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 0.51%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.19%, Oil & Gas up by 1.86%, Capital Goods up by 1.79%, Energy up by 1.60% and Industrials up by 1.56%, while Healthcare down by 0.48% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 3.47%, Tata Steel up by 3.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.86%, Titan Company up by 1.95% and Tata Motors up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.61%, HCL Technologies down by 0.46% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers are “strong” and good momentum in economic activities is likely to continue in the fourth quarter (Q4). He also said that the agriculture sector, which recorded a decline of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, will rebound in the next financial year. India's economic growth accelerated to 8.4 per cent in the October-December quarter of this fiscal, mainly due to double-digit growth in manufacturing and good showing by mining and quarrying and construction sectors.

Nageswaran said ‘So the actual performance of the economy has continued to defy expectations and do better than what many had projected underscoring the fact that a structural transformation of the economy is indeed underway, both in terms of physical infrastructure and digital infrastructure as well as inclusion agenda, boosting the purchasing power of Indian households...’. On the agriculture sector, he said prospects of healthy rabi harvesting, and expectations of the fading away of El Nino and the forecast of a normal monsoon bodes well for a better-than-normal kharif sowing.

He further said that improvement in household consumption, bright prospects for capital formation owing to an upturn in the private capex cycle, improved business sentiments, healthy balance sheets of corporates, and the government’s continued thrust on capital expenditure will drive growth. He also noted that while growth prospects appear bright external factors pose a downside risk. He further said that uncertainty prevails over merchandise trade, with WTO slashing its projection for world trade growth in 2023 by half to 0.8 per cent from its earlier estimate of 1.7 per cent in April. He added prolonged geo-political uncertainty and tightened financial conditions also pose a challenge to the growth outlook.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22191.75, up by 208.95 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 22047.75 and 22210.70. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 3.42%, Tata Steel up by 3.05%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.88%, BPCL up by 2.83% and ONGC up by 2.38%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.42%, Infosys down by 0.60%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.45%, Cipla down by 0.40% and HCL Technologies down by 0.34% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 742.66 points or 1.9% to 39,908.85, Hang Seng advanced 124.62 points or 0.75% to 16,636.06, Straits Times rose 2.69 points or 0.09% to 3,144.54 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 2.64 points or 0.09% to 3,017.81.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted lost 27.04 points or 0.14% to 18,939.73 and Jakarta Composite plunged 44.92 points or 0.62% to 7,271.19.