Gaining rally persists over Dalal Street

A gaining rally continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty reaching their intraday high points, amid heavy buying despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were upbeat, as the data released by Reserve Bank of India showed that India's forex reserves increased to $654.27 billion in the week ending March 14, 2025, up by $0.305 billion. The street overlooked the HSBC flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey stating that private sector output in India increased at a slower pace in March as compared to the previous month, amid a quicker expansion in manufacturing activity and a softer increase in services activity.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in March, with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.3. That's down from 49.0 in February, and it moved further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77718.36, up by 812.85 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 77179.35 and 77897.11. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged by 1.26%, while Small cap index was up by 1.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.15%, PSU up by 2.09%, Industrials up by 2.03%, Capital Goods up by 1.97% and Realty up by 1.86%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.15%, NTPC up by 3.29%, Axis Bank up by 2.53%, Power Grid up by 2.39% and SBI up by 2.09%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.51%, Titan down by 2.50%, Indusind Bank down by 1.55%, Eternal down by 1.05% and Infosys down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce and industry ministry has said that the government has disbursed Rs 14,020 crore under Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for ten sectors, including electronics and pharma, since the launch of the support measure to boost domestic manufacturing. In 2021, the government announced PLI schemes for 14 sectors like telecommunication, white goods, textiles, manufacturing of medical devices, automobiles, speciality steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell batteries, drones, and pharma, with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. 

The ministry said these sectors are large-scale electronics manufacturing, IT hardware, bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom and networking products, food processing, white goods, automobiles and auto components and drones. Individual cases have been approved over a period of time through a transparent mechanism. It said projects are implemented over a period of time ranging from two-three years, depending on the nature of manufacturing, and claims are usually made after 1st year of production. Hence, it noted that most of the projects are at the implementation stage and will be filing incentive claims in due course. 

It further said that as of date, 764 applications have been approved under the schemes for 14 sectors. 176 MSMEs are among the PLI beneficiaries in sectors such as bulk drugs, medical devices, pharma, telecom, white goods, food processing, textiles and drones. Actual investment of around Rs 1.61 lakh crore ($18.72 billion) has been reported till November 2024, which has generated production/sales of about Rs 14 lakh crore ($162.84 billion) and employment of over 11.5 lakh. The schemes have witnessed exports surpassing Rs 5.31 lakh crore (around $61.76 billion), with significant contributions from sectors like electronics and pharmaceuticals. In the scheme for specialty steel, it said, about Rs 20,000 crore of investments have been made by companies out of Rs 27,106 crore committed and these projects have given a direct employment to 9,000 people. Incentive of Rs 48 crore has been released to the industry so far. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23590.20, up by 239.80 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 23433.50 and 23643.00. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.47%, NTPC up by 3.07%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.51%, Axis Bank up by 2.40% and Bajaj Finserv up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.58%, Titan down by 2.41%, Indusind Bank down by 1.78%, Trent down by 1.20% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 48.65 points or 0.21% to 23,641.07, Jakarta Composite plunged 143.96 points or 2.35% to 6,114.22, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.28 points or 0.39% to 3,351.55, KOSPI dropped 7.76 points or 0.29% to 2,635.37, Nikkei 225 slipped 23.66 points or 0.06% to 37,653.40 and Taiwan Weighted lost 71.6 points or 0.32% to 22,137.50, while Straits Times rose 5.01 points or 0.13% to 3,931.46.