Gaining rally takes markets near day’s highs in early afternoon

A gaining rally drove Indian equity benchmarks near their intraday high points in early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding gains of around 0.70% each, aided by heavy buying at almost all the sectors except FMCG. Zomato witnessed a strong rally during the trading session, followed by Tata Motors and Ultratech Cement. Traders got relief, as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) will not be applicable on penal charges levied by banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). The CBIC through a circular has also clarified that GST will not be levied on transactions of up to Rs 2,000 facilitated by payment aggregators on online platforms.

On the global front, Asian stock market Nikkei was trading higher on Wednesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with most of the major markets in the region including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea closed for Lunar New Year holidays. Traders remained cautious ahead of the US Fed's interest rate decision later in the day. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76431.01, up by 529.60 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 75975.80 and 76549.63. There were 29 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged by 1.97%, while Small cap index was up by 2.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 2.45%, Capital Goods up by 2.31%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.88%, Auto up by 1.82% and Basic Materials up by 1.82%, while FMCG down by 0.45% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Zomato up by 3.72%, Tata Motors up by 2.48%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.12%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.01% and Tata Steel up by 1.98%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.66% and ITC down by 0.13% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Miniter Shivraj Singh Chouhan has reviewed the progress of sowing of rabi crops especially wheat, and called for ‘dynamic’ procurement through government agencies to ensure maximum benefits to the farmers. 

The minister also discussed preparations in terms of ensuring sufficient fertilisers and seeds for the upcoming Kharif season starting July. He said the purchase of produce through government procurement agencies should remain dynamic, as well as there should be government implementation of the procurement system.  

As per the ministry data, wheat and other crops have been sown in 655.88 lakh hectares so far in the rabi (winter) season of the 2024-25 crop year (July-June), up from 643.72 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. While the sowing of major rabi crops is over, the sowing time for onion, potato and tomato is available.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23131.50, up by 174.25 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 22976.50 and 23168.50. There were 44 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.58%, Shriram Finance up by 3.18%, Bharat Electronics up by 3.10%, Tata Motors up by 2.51% and JSW Steel up by 2.44%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.43%, Britannia down by 0.81%, Asian Paints down by 0.63%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.55% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.04% were the top losers.

On the global front, Nikkei 225 surged 397.91 points or 1.01% to 39,414.78.