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Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in high spirit in afternoon session, on the back of a rally in global markets as bond markets settled down a bit after last week's jump. Sentiments were upbeat as the Indian equities continued to scale new highs post the Union Budget for FY22, the net foreign portfolio investments (FPI) into the Indian equities in February was Rs 25,787 crore. Foreign investments have continued to flow in post the Union Budget which announced further liberalisation measures including privatisation of banks and also did not come up with a new tax levy. Markets were also trading firm as India is now out of a technical recession after witnessing two successive quarters of revised negative growth at 7.3% in the July-September period and a 24.4% decline in the first quarter of the financial year 2020-21 (FY21). India's Q3 GDP grew by 0.4% after witnessing a negative growth of 7.5% and 23.9% in Q2 and Q1 respectively of FY21 as economic activity limps back to normality after Covid-19 pandemic shock. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC and Power Grid.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading firm as some semblance of calm returned to bond markets after last week’s wild ride. Back home, the market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1803 shares on the gaining side against 1058 shares on the losing side, while 192 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49634.94, up by 534.95 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 49485.00 and 50058.42. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.07%, while Small cap index was up by 1.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.23%, Metal up by 2.02%, Basic Materials up by 2.01%, PSU up by 1.98% and Consumer Discretionary was up by 1.93%, while Telecom down by 3.21% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 5.13%, ONGC up by 4.95%, Power Grid up by 3.86%, Titan Company up by 3.58% and Asian Paints was up by 2.99%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.76%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.37% and Reliance Industries was down by 0.12% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries grew marginally by 0.1 percent in January 2021, mainly due to growth in the production of fertiliser, steel and electricity. The core sectors had expanded by 2.2 percent in January 2020. During April-January 2020-21, the sectors' output declined by 8.8 percent against a growth rate of 0.8 percent in the same period of the previous year. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). 

Among eight core sectors, Steel production having 17.92 percent weight increased by 2.6 percent in January, 2021 over January,2020, while its cumulative index declined by 14.0 percent during April to January, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizers production having 2.63 percent weight increased by 2.7 percent in January 2021 over January,2020 and its cumulative index increased by 3.0 per cent during April to January, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85 percent weight increased by 5.1percent in January, 2021over January,2020, while its cumulative index declined by 2.7 percent during April to January, 2020-21over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the other hand, Crude Oil production having 8.98 percent weight declined by 4.6 percent in January, 2021 over January,2020 and its cumulative index declined by 5.6 percent during April to January, 2020-21over the corresponding period of previous year. Natural Gas production having 6.88 percent weight declined by2.0 percent in January, 2021 over January, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 10.7 percent during April to January, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04 percent weight declined by 2.6 percent in January, 2021 over January,2020 and its cumulative index declined by 12.4 percent during April to January, 2020-21over the corresponding period of previous year. Cement production having 5.37 percent weight declined by 5.9 percent in January, 2021 overJanuary,2020 and its cumulative index declined by 16.6 percent during April to January, 2020-21 over the corresponding period of previous year. Coal production having 10.33 percent weight declined by 1.8 percent in January, 2021 over January, 2020 and its cumulative index declined by 1.9 percent during April to January, 2020-21 over corresponding period of the previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14695.20, up by 166.05 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 14638.85 and 14806.80. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 5.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.94%, UPL up by 4.60%, Power Grid up by 4.25% and Titan Company was up by 3.69%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.67%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.09%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.34%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.31% and Reliance Industries was down by 0.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 697.49 points or 2.41% to 29,663.50, Hang Seng increased 362.72 points or 1.25% to 29,342.93, Jakarta Composite soared 76.37 points or 1.22% to 6,318.17, Straits Times advanced 29.63 points or 1.00% to 2,978.67 and Shanghai Composite was up by 30.28 points or 0.86% to 3,539.36.

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