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Gaining rally continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading on a strong note. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to remain higher. Domestic sentiments were positive, as the government extended till March 15 the deadline for corporates to file Income Tax returns for the fiscal ended March 2021. The deadline to file tax audit report and transfer pricing audit report for 2020-21 fiscal too has been extended till February 15.

Adding more relief among traders, RAI said that retail sales in December last year grew by 7 per cent over the pre-pandemic levels of the same period in 2019 but the pace dropped towards the last week of the month under review due to the third COVID wave. In its latest retail business survey, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said the growth witnessed last month is 26 per cent higher as compared to December 2020.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after China inflation eased more than expected at the end of 2021 largely due to the fall in food prices and factory gate inflation moderated further. The official data revealed that consumer price inflation slowed to 1.5 percent in December from 2.3 percent in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The rate was expected to slow to 1.8 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61189.78, up by 572.89 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 60850.93 and 61210.08. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.59%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.92%, Energy up by 1.86%, Power up by 1.54%, Utilities up by 1.53% and Metal up by 1.24%, while Healthcare down by 0.23% and Consumer Durables down by 0.04% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.42%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.18%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.92%, Infosys up by 1.62% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 0.78%, TCS down by 0.58%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.39%, Sun Pharma down by 0.33% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, A domestic rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that lockdowns to contain the spread of the third COVID wave hurt loan collections and new lending by non-banks, and will in turn impact securitization volumes. The overall volumes of securitization – where a non-bank lender passes on future receivables against loans or a bunch of loans to another entity for upfront cash – will come at Rs 1-1.1 lakh crore in FY22 as against the Rs 1.2 lakh estimated earlier.

The report said securitization volumes could thus be affected in the January-March quarter because the NBFCs (Non Bank Finance Companies) and HFCs (Housing Finance Companies) may curtail disbursements, especially to COVID-impacted sectors, and investors would prefer to wait for the threat to subside. It said some states have already started imposing restrictions though of a milder nature so far and added that the lockdowns not only impact the collection ability as staff members fall ill but also the income generating ability of the borrowers.

Rating agency further said in the event that the severity of the COVID infections grows and results in higher hospitalisation rates, the state governments may impose stringent lockdowns to control the spread of the virus and investors will also wait for the threat to subside. It said higher proportion of securitisation transactions are usually placed in March and thus it hopes the spread of the virus would be contained sooner.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18209.25, up by 153.50 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 18128.80 and 18221.30. There were 34 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.15%, Hindalco up by 1.88%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.83% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.77%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 1.18%, Titan Co down by 1.10%, Divi's Lab down by 0.85%, Shree Cement down by 0.72% and TCS down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 501.26 points or 1.78% to 28,723.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 6.85 points or 0.04% to 18,295.06, Jakarta Composite soared 11.65 points or 0.18% to 6,659.62, Shanghai Composite gained 12.49 points or 0.35% to 3,579.93, KOSPI rose 41.16 points or 1.41% to 2,968.54, Straits Times advanced 3.26 points or 0.1% to 3,249.63 and Hang Seng increased 502.09 points or 2.12% to 24,241.15.

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