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Indian equity benchmarks gained for second straight session on Tuesday buoyed by hectic buying in Auto, IT and TECK counters amid positive domestic and global cues. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening, as the finance ministry stated that GST collections crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the fifth month in a row in February, rising 7 per cent annually to over Rs 1.13 lakh crore, indicating economic recovery. Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections had risen for two straight months to touch record Rs 1,19,875 crore in January and Rs 1.15 lakh crore in December. However, some profit taking in noon deals led to benchmarks coming off intraday highs. Some concern came after the Biden administration has told the US Congress that India's recent emphasis on import substitution through the ‘Make in India’ campaign has ‘epitomised’ the challenges facing the bilateral trade relationship. In its 2021 Trade Policy Agenda and 2020 Annual Report, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said that during 2020, the US continued its engagement with India to try to resolve longstanding market access impediments affecting US exporters.

Though, late buying led to the Sensex and Nifty close near day's highs. Traders also found solace with the Crisil report stated that on the back of timely government and regulatory measures this fiscal, which helped the economy to recover faster than expected, bank credit is seen growing 400-500 bps to 9-10 percent in the next financial year. In the current fiscal, bank credit is expected to rise 4-5 percent despite the sharpest contraction in the economy since Independence. Some support also came with the finance ministry stating that the Centre has released Rs 1.04 lakh crore to states in four months since October 2020, to meet GST compensation shortfall. Traders also took a note of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that Economic activity is gaining steam in India as Covid-19 incidences recede but private investments are missing in action. It also said the ongoing vaccine rollout is releasing pent-up optimism.  

On the global front, European markets were trading higher even as preliminary figures from Destatis showed German retail sales decreased for a second straight month and at a faster than expected pace in January. Asian markets ended mixed on Tuesday, as caution crept in after China's top financial regulator said that he is concerned about risks arising from bubbles in financial markets and huge inflow of foreign capital. Separately, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent in January, unchanged from the December reading and shy of expectations for 3.0 percent.  Back home, on the sectoral front, aviation stocks were in focus as rating agency ICRA said there could be a delay in the commercialisation of expanded capacity by 9-12 months, and expecting domestic air passenger traffic to return to the pre-COVID-19 level by the financial year 2022-23 and international by 2023-24. Power stocks too were in watch as data showed India's power consumption grew 0.88 percent in February at 104.73 billion units (BU) due to a slight rise in temperature in the month. Power consumption in February 2020 was 103.81 BU.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 447.05 points or 0.90% to 50,296.89, while the CNX Nifty was up by 157.55 points or 1.07% to 14,919.10.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 50,439.82 and 49,807.12, respectively. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.55%, while Small cap index was up by 1.60%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.18%, IT up by 2.85%, TECK up by 2.84%, Industrials up by 2.20% and Consumer Discretionary up by 2.17%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.98%, NTPC up by 3.83%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.53%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.44% and TCS up by 2.88%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.16%, HDFC down by 1.63%, Power Grid down by 1.19%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.06% and SBI down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the fifth month in a row in February, rising 7 percent to over Rs 1.13 lakh crore, indicating economic recovery. However, the collection is lower than the record Rs 1,19,875 crore collected in the previous month.

The gross GST revenue collected in February 2021 is Rs 1,13,143 crore, of which CGST is Rs 21,092 crore, SGST is Rs 27,273 crore, IGST is Rs 55,253 crore (including Rs 24,382 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess is Rs 9,525 crore (including Rs 660 crore collected on import of goods).

In line with the trend of recovery in the GST revenues over past five months, the revenues for the month of February 2021 are 7 percent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenues from import of goods were 15 percent higher and the revenues from the domestic transaction (including import of services) are 5 percent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 14,959.10 and 14,760.80. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stock declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.58%, Wipro up by 4.46%, Adani Ports up by 4.09% and Hero Motocorp up by 3.91%.  On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.61%, HDFC down by 1.21%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.09%, Power Grid down by 0.97% and Coal India down by 0.55% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 37.30 points or 0.57% to 6,625.83, France’s CAC rose 15.57 points or 0.27% to 5,808.36 and Germany’s DAX was up by 40.81 points or 0.29% to 14,053.63.

Asian markets ended mixed on Tuesday after China’s top banking regulator warned about asset bubbles in overseas financial markets. Japanese shares ended lower as investors booked profits after the benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed back towards the 30,000 level in early trades. However, Seoul shares ended sharply higher as trading resumed after a long holiday weekend.

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