Markets maintain gains in late afternoon amid positive global cues

The Indian bourses continued to trade higher in late afternoon session, taking positive cues from global peers after China unveiled special action plan featuring measures such as increasing residents' income and establishing a childcare subsidy scheme to boost domestic consumption. However, gains remained capped as the concerns about Trump’s trade policies and rising fears of possible recession in US in upcoming times weighed on investor sentiments. Traders remained cautious after Crisil in its latest report stated that India’s merchandise trade deficit will be under pressure in the fiscal year 2026, as domestic private consumption is expected to remain strong, maintaining imports up. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets were mostly trading green amid China’s stimulus and positive global cues. The European equity markets were trading higher, ahead of this week's upcoming parliamentary vote on Germany's debt reform deal and the interest rate meetings of Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74184.34, up by 355.43 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 73796.06 and 74376.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up by 0.73%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.10%, Basic Materials up by 0.88%, Bankex up by 0.86%, Auto up by 0.82% and Metal up by 0.80%, while Realty down by 0.17%, FMCG down by 0.16%, IT down by 0.07% and Telecom down by 0.05% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.79%, Axis Bank up by 2.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.39%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.97% and ICICI Bank up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.80%, ITC down by 0.73%, Nestle down by 0.72%, Reliance Industries down by 0.61% and SBI down by 0.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) in India surged in the month of February to 2.38% as against 2.31% in January, primarily due to increase in prices of electricity and mineral oils. The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, decreased by 1.74% to 186.6 (provisional) in February 2025 from 189.9 (provisional) for the month of January 2025, on account of fall in prices of food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, minerals and non-food articles.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 2.12% to 153.8 (provisional) in February 2025 from 150.6 (provisional) for the month of January 2025, as prices of electricity and mineral oils increased in February 2025 as compared to January 2025. However, the price of coal remained same as that in the previous month.

Further, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, rose 0.42% to 143.8 (Provisional) in February 2025 from 143.2 (Provisional) for the month of January 2025. Meanwhile, for the month of December 2024, the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011- 12=100) stood at 155.7 and 2.57% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22502.65, up by 105.45 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 22353.15 and 22577.00. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.76%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 3.54%, SBI Life Insurance Company up by 3.49%, Axis Bank up by 2.56% and Trent up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Britannia Industries down by 1.64%, BPCL down by 1.60%, Wipro down by 1.53%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.97% and ITC down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 185.59 points or 0.77% to 24,145.5, KOSPI increased 44.33 points or 1.7% to 2,610.69, Nikkei 225 surged 343.42 points or 0.92% to 37,396.52, Taiwan Weighted added 150.58 points or 0.68% to 22,118.63, Straits Times rose 23.63 points or 0.62% to 3,859.65 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 6.57 points or 0.19% to 3,426.13, while Jakarta Composite plunged 43.68 points or 0.67% to 6,471.95.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 14.03 points or 0.16% to 8,646.36, France’s CAC rose 18.53 points or 0.23% to 8,046.81 and Germany’s DAX gained 45.05 points or 0.2% to 23,031.87.