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Indian equity markets added gains to continue firm trade in the afternoon session on account of buying in frontline counters. The sentiments on the street were on optimistic mood after the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the key interest rates on hold. The MPC voted unanimously to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4 percent and voted 5:1 to continue with an 'accommodative' stance for as long as necessary to revive growth on a sustainable basis. Also, RBI governor expects inflation to peak in the current quarter with tolerance band, moderating in the second half of next fiscal. On the sectoral front, banking, metal and power witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer durables and healthcare remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 58900 and 17600 levels respectively. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher ahead of the release of US inflation data later in the day that could have a huge bearing on the Federal Reserve’s rate hike plans.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58983.15, up by 517.18 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 58332.28 and 59008.98. There were 23 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.36%, Metal up by 1.33%, Power up by 1.25%, Realty up by 1.21% and Utilities was up by 1.01%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.15%, Healthcare down by 0.05% and FMCG was down by 0.04% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.78%, HDFC up by 2.36%, HDFC Bank up by 1.99%, Tata Steel up by 1.86% and Power Grid was up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.49%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.35%, Asian Paints down by 0.31%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.09% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid FY23 Union Budget's focus on investments, leading domestic credit rating agency Crisil has said that the capital expenditure is ‘not as high as it sounds’. However it was quick to add that considering that governments usually tend to cut capex during a crisis, the government has maintained its focus on growth-spurring initiatives amid the pandemic.

The research wing of the agency said, if one excludes the Rs 1 lakh crore of loans to states for capex included in the headline figure of Rs 7.50 lakh crore or 2.91 per cent, the actual spend in FY23, will go down to 2.58 per cent of GDP, which is barely at par with the revised estimate of FY22. It also pointed out that the overall number showing a rise has been 'offset' through a reduction in internal and extra budgetary resources (IEBR), which funds capex of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). It said IEBR has been budgeted at 1.82 per cent of GDP for the next fiscal, much lower than the pre-pandemic average (fiscals 2018-20) of 3.33 per cent, attributing the same to poor capex execution by CPSEs lately. The overall central capex for FY22 which is the sum of effective budgetary capex and IEBR, would remain intact at 5.96 per cent of GDP for next fiscal, the same as pre-pandemic average between 2018-20.

Noting that the government has been able to fully spend its capex budget, the report said in the last two fiscal, a bulk of expenditure happened in the last quarter and made a plea for frontloading of the committed money to help the demand process. It said the mix of the capex budgeted for FY23 favours employment, noting the focus on roads and highways and railways sectors. However, it said the commitment to defence, another jobs-intensive area, has softened a bit.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17611.70, up by 147.90 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 17427.15 and 17622.65. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.59%, HDFC up by 2.48%, ONGC up by 2.44%, HDFC Bank up by 2.04% and Tata Steel was up by 1.84%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.36%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 0.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.49%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.38% and Asian Paints was down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Straits Times advanced 1.93 points or 0.06% to 3,421.97, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 186.29 points or 1.03% to 18,338.05, Nikkei 225 surged 116.21 points or 0.42% to 27,696.08, KOSPI rose 5.84 points or 0.21% to 2,774.69 and Jakarta Composite was up by 16.43 points or 0.24% to 6,851.04.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite declined 5.16 points or 0.15% to 3,474.79 and Hang Seng was down by 28.78 points or 0.12% to 24,801.21.