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Indian equity benchmarks ended with notable gains on Thursday’s trading session. The start of the trading day was on a negative note, impacted with Fitch Ratings’ statement that India's high fiscal deficit would pose a challenge in lowering the debt to GDP ratio, which is expected to rise above 90 percent in the next five years. It said the country entered the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic with little fiscal headroom from a rating perspective. Its general government debt/GDP ratio stood at 72 percent in 2019, against a median of 42 percent for 'BBB' rated peers.

But soon, markets turned positive, as Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC India) has said that India’s engineering exports have increased by 18.69 percent in January 2021 and demand for such products in the international markets is expected to be steady in the remaining two months of the current fiscal. Some support came with private report stating that the job market continues to improve sequentially across the country and job postings in some industries have improved, with some doing even better than the pre-Covid levels, led by IT, agro-based sectors.

Indices remained higher for the most part of the session and added more gains in the last hour of the trade, as DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated that the new PSE policy announced by the government has opened a host of opportunities for the private players who now partake in India's growth story by buying the brownfield assets of public sector enterprises at an attractive valuation. He said privatisation, as a means of improving efficiency and hence achieving higher productivity and improved allocation of resources, has been one of the guiding principles of the Budget.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly higher, as investors kept close watch on a barrage of earnings reports from companies for clues on the pace of business recovery. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday, even after Malaysia's economy contracted in the whole year of 2020 at the fastest pace since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The data from the Bank Negara Malaysia showed that in 2020, gross domestic product was down 5.6 percent, in contrast to the 4.3 percent expansion posted in 2019. The latest decrease was the largest fall since 1998. In the fourth quarter, GDP dropped 3.4 percent annually, after easing 2.6 percent in the third quarter.

The BSE Sensex ended at 51531.52, up by 222.13 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 51157.31 and 51592.45. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 1.06%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 3.13%, Telecom up by 1.63%, Oil & Gas up by 1.52%, Utilities up by 1.19% and Basic Materials up by 1.16%, while Capital Goods down by 0.97%, Consumer Durables down by 0.43%, Auto down by 0.41%, PSU down by 0.32% and Industrials down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 4.07%, Sun Pharma up by 2.62%, Power Grid up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.53% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.41%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.51%, Titan Co down by 2.50%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.43%, HDFC Bank down by 0.70% and ITC down by 0.53% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the auto industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest report has showed that passenger vehicle wholesales in India increased by 11.14 per cent to 2,76,554 units in January 2021 as compared with 2,48,840 units in January 2020.

As per report, two-wheeler dispatches to dealers also rose 6.63 per cent to 14,29,928 units, compared to 13,41,005 units in January 2020, while motorcycle sales increased 5.1 per cent to 9,16,365 units as against 8,71,886 in January 2020.

SIAM further said that scooter sales were also up 9.06 per cent at 4,54,315 units from 4,16,567 units a year ago. Three-wheeler sales, however, declined by 56.76 per cent to 26,335 units as compared with Rs 60,903 units in January last year.

The CNX Nifty ended at 15173.30, up by 66.80 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 15065.40 and 15188.50. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 5.73%, Reliance Industries up by 4.12%, Sun Pharma up by 2.64%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.60% and GAIL India up by 2.13%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.87%, NTPC down by 2.55%, Titan Co down by 2.46%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.44% and Tata Motors down by 1.19% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.39 points or 0.14% to 6,533.75, France’s CAC increased 2.61 points or 0.05% to 5,673.41 and Germany’s DAX was down by 15.81 points or 0.11% to 13,948.78.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday, supported by rising hopes of a US stimulus package. US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said maintaining patiently accommodative monetary policy will be important to returning to a strong labor market and more needs to be done. Hong Kong shares ended at their highest level since June 2018 ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays. Stock markets of Taiwan, South Korea and China were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays, while Japanese markets were also closed in observance of National Foundation Day.