Key gauges extend gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in morning deals, amid fresh foreign fund inflows and buying in blue-chip stocks. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 7,470.36 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Traders took support with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that India's agricultural growth rate is expected to be 20 per cent in the next two years and the Centre's first priority is to make the sector economically viable and create more jobs. He stated around 65 per cent of the country's population is rural but they contribute only 12 per cent in growth. Some support also came as the government has disbursed Rs 14,020 crore under Production-Linked Incentive schemes for ten sectors, including electronics and pharma, since the launch of the support measure to boost domestic manufacturing. Meanwhile, India has imposed anti-dumping duty on Soft Ferrite Cores, certain thickness of vacuum insulated flask, aluminium foil, Trichloro Isocyanuric Acid, and Poly Vinyl Chloride Paste Resin coming from China to guard domestic players from cheap imports.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as the White House prepares to impose tariffs on key trading partners next week that many fears could deal a painful blow to the global economy. Back home, on the sectoral front, stocks related to airline sector remained in watch as monthly traffic data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed India's domestic air passenger traffic increased 11.04 per cent to 140.44 lakh in February over the same month last year. The number of domestic passengers flown by the Indian airline in February 2024 was recorded at 126.48 lakh. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77614.52, up by 709.01 points or 0.92% after trading in a range of 77179.35 and 77626.44. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.21%, while Small cap index was up by 1.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.25%, Industrials up by 2.05%, PSU up by 2.03%, Capital Goods up by 2.00% and Utilities up by 1.99%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.20%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.84%, NTPC up by 2.26%, Axis Bank up by 2.21% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.08%, Infosys down by 0.93%, Eternal down by 0.77% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India's agricultural growth rate is expected to be 20 per cent in the next two years and the Centre's first priority is to make the sector economically viable and create more jobs. He stated around 65 per cent of the country's population is rural but they contribute only 12 per cent in growth. 

Further, in order to become a $5 trillion economy and achieve third rank in the work, he the country's rural economy and agriculture are very important. He said ‘The government is working on boosting the irrigation sector. We need to have the most successful technology in the world. The agriculture economy will create more jobs in the rural sector.’ 

Besides, while pointing out that 36 green highways are being built along with projects costing Rs 3 lakh crore for port connectivity, he said the basic problem facing the economy was logistics cost, which stands at 14-16 per cent. He said ‘We need to bring it down to 9 per cent. Good roads, alternate fuels will ensure cost reduction. Exports will increase by 1.5 per cent. Our problem is not resources but expenditure.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23560.00, up by 209.60 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 23433.50 and 23570.40. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.45%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.83%, Axis Bank up by 2.60%, Grasim Industries up by 2.57% and NTPC up by 2.41%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.27%, Titan Company down by 2.09%, Trent down by 1.34%, Infosys down by 0.91% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 36.87 points or 0.17% to 22,172.23, Hang Seng declined 27.59 points or 0.12% to 23,662.13, KOSPI dropped 4.74 points or 0.18% to 2,638.39, Jakarta Composite plunged 147.08 points or 2.35% to 6,111.10 and Shanghai Composite weakened 8.33 points or 0.25% to 3,356.50.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 7.64 points or 0.02% to 37,684.70 and Straits Times rose 5.82 points or 0.15% to 3,932.27.