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Indian equity benchmarks ended the Thursday’s trade on an optimistic note with frontline gauges garnering the gains of over one and half percent, amid broad-based buying, tracking a rebound across global markets. After a positive start, markets gained more strength, as sentiments got upbeat with an authoritative seasonal forecast from the South Asian Seasonal Climate Outlook Forum report that normal to above normal rainfall is most likely during the 2022 southwest monsoon season (June-September) over most parts of South Asia. The street was also finding support with private report stated that as the country recovers from the pandemic, the retail industry has resumed its growth trajectory and is likely to witness 10 per cent annual growth to reach approximately $2 trillion by 2032.

Domestic sentiments remained upbeat, as the Centre approved the continuation of the Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme till December 2024. Traders took note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that in an interconnected world, sanctions can have unintended consequences, and India is trying to work through them. Meanwhile, ahead of the end of five-year assured compensation period on June 30, the Centre acknowledged that an amount of Rs 78,704 crore was yet to be released to the state governments towards fully compensating them for their Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue shortfall for the financial year 2021-22.

On the global front, Asian markets ended higher on Thursday tracking the Wall Street, which ended overnight on a positive note, bolstered by the surge in quarterly earnings that shifted focus away from macroeconomic headwinds. The spill over of the earnings-led enthusiasm to the Asian bourses is despite concerns on the impact of the lockdowns in China and the interest rate hardening worldwide. European markets were trading higher as a slew of forecast-beating earnings reports helped set aside fears around slowing global economic growth. 

Back home, insurance industry stocks were in limelight with ICRA’s report that general insurance industry's gross direct premium income (GDPI) is expected to grow by 10-12 per cent in the current fiscal on account of rising awareness of medical insurance and improvement in economic activity. Chemical industry stocks were also buzzing as the commerce ministry has said that chemicals exports have touched $29.3 billion in 2021-22 on account of healthy performance in areas like agrochemicals, dyes and speciality chemicals. India is the sixth-largest producer of chemicals in the world, third in Asia and 14th in exports. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 701.67 points or 1.23% to 57,521.06 and the CNX Nifty was up by 206.65 points or 1.21% to 17,245.05.        

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 57,790.85 and 56,936.94, respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.     

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 2.08%, Power up by 1.88%, Utilities up by 1.76%, Capital Goods up by 1.48% and Banking up by 1.22%, while Telecom down by 0.78% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 4.55%, Asian Paints up by 3.18%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.79%, NTPC up by 2.67% and Larsen & Toubro up by 2.47%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.54%, HCL Technologies down by 0.31% and HDFC Bank down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that in an interconnected world, sanctions can have unintended consequences, and India is trying to work through them. Economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and European Union following the invasion of Ukraine in February this year have led to a fall in bilateral trade with Moscow. The ongoing war also fuelled energy prices and a shortage of foodgrains.

She said India’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine war is with the view to safeguard its economic and security interest. She added ‘so, India’s position is not just for its economic interests, but also its security interests. The balance that India has taken in every decision in this context… because of the geopolitical location of India’.

She further said sanction always has an impact on not just the country on which it is imposed but on many other nations, and added that ‘it can have collateral impact on many others who probably didn’t intend to have the sanction’. So, she said unintended consequences do bear an immediate and strong impact on countries in this digitally connected world.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,322.50 and 17,071.05. There were 45 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining, 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.      

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 4.34%, Hindustan Unilever up by 4.28%, SBI Life Insurance up by 3.70%, UPL up by 3.51% and Asian Paints up by 3.00%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.97%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.86%, Hindalco down by 0.77% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.52% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 70.92 points or 0.96% to 7,496.53, France’s CAC increased 99.23 points or 1.54% to 6,544.49 and Germany’s DAX increased 188.81 points or 1.37% to 13,982.75.

Asian markets ended higher on Thursday in spite of concerns over the impact of the lockdowns in China and the interest rate hardening worldwide. Chinese shares rose as policy makers stepped up efforts to bolster the economy. Moreover, Japanese shares also rebounded after reports showed Japan's industrial production in the fiscal year 2021 grew at a record 5.8% after being hit by the downside effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while retail sales rose 0.9% in March from a year earlier, rebounding from the previous month's drop.

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