Benchmark indices firmed up once again afternoon trade. The Nifty re-claimed 14,700 mark. Value buying emerged after a heavy selling in the previous trading session.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 728.01 points or 1.48% at 49,828.00. The Nifty 50 index advanced 202.20 points or 1.39% at 14,731.35.
Strength in HDFC Bank (up 1.96%), HDFC (up 2.35%) and Infosys (up 2.07%) boosted the indices.
The broader market was trading firm. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.16%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.33%.
Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,852 shares rose and 1,069 shares fell. A total of 195 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 8,295.17 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,499.70 crore in the Indian equity market on 26 February 2021, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 114,078,673 with 25,30,723 deaths. India reported 1,68,627 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 157157 deaths while 1,07,86,457 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Economy:
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 57.5 in February 2021, highlighting a strong improvement in operating conditions that was broadly similar to that recorded in January (57.7). The headline figure remained above its long-run average of 53.6.
India's economy returned to growth in its fiscal third quarter after a recession earlier in 2020. Gross domestic product grew 0.4% in October-December compared with the same period a year earlier, data released by the National Statistics Office on Friday showed. That compared with revised contractions of 7.3% in July-September and 24.4% in April-June.
The output of eight core infrastructure sectors grew marginally by 0.1% in January, mainly due to growth in the production of fertiliser, steel and electricity. The core sectors had expanded by 2.2% in January 2020, according to the provisional data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday.
The Central government's fiscal deficit soared to Rs 12.34 lakh crore or 66.8% of the revised Budget estimates at the end of January 2021 of the current fiscal. The fiscal deficit at the end of January 2021 in the previous financial year was 128.5% of the Revised Estimates (RE).
Meanwhile, the country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $169 million to $583.865 billion in the week ended 19 February 2021, as per the data released by RBI. In the previous week ended 12 February 2021, the reserves had declined by $249 million to $583.697 billion. It had touched a record high of $590.185 billion in the week ended 29 January 2021 this year.
Gainers & Losers:
ONGC (up 5.36%), PowerGrid Corporation of India (up 5.30%), UPL (up 4.27%), Grasim Industries (up 4.12%) and Titan Company (up 3.92%) were major gainers in Nifty 50 index.
Bajaj Finance (down 0.62%), SBI Life Insurance Company (down 0.44%), Reliance Industries (down 0.36%) and Cipla (down 0.06%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Stocks in Spotlight:
ISGEC Heavy Engineering gained 0.07%. The company received an order for a slop fired boiler from a sugar manufacturing company for its distillery plant. ISGEC Heavy Engineering said that the boiler will help the distillery plant achieve zero liquid discharge thereby ensuring a cleaner and greener environment. It will also help in moving towards the ethanol blending initiative of the Government of India.
Ashok Leyland fell 1.24%. The commercial vehicles maker's total sales jumped 19% to 13,703 units in February 2021 as against 11,475 units sold in February 2020. Sequentially, the company's total auto sales advanced 4.4% last month from 13,126 units sold in January 2021. Ashok Leyland's domestic sales stood at 12,776 units in February 2021 as against 10,612 units in February 2020, registering a 20% increase year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
Bharti Airtel tumbled 5.31% after Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) offloaded 3.70 crore equity shares (0.68% equity) of the telecom major at Rs 556.46 per share via bulk deal on the NSE on 26 February 2021. Integrated Core Strategies (Asia) had acquired 3.80 crore shares, or 0.7% stake in Bharti Airtel on 31 August 2020 via bulk deal on the NSE.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Monday amid easing US Treasury yields. Stocks had been under pressure over the last few weeks as rising yields made equities look less attractive to investors.
A private survey released Monday showed China's manufacturing activity in February growing at a slower pace. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at 50.9, a decline from January's reading of 51.5.
China's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for February came in at 50.6 over the weekend, according to data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics. That was lower than January's reading of 51.3 but still above the 50 level that separates expansion from contraction.
US stocks ended on a mixed note on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 469.64 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 30,932.37, after touching a session low at 30,911.37 as Wall Street struggled to shake off fears of rapidly rising rates.
The S&P 500 lost 18.19 points, 0.5%, to close at 3,811.15 as energy and financial stocks pulled back. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 72.91 points, or 0.6%, to 13,192.34 as Big Tech names rebounded after a large sell-off in the previous session amid surging bond yields. Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon each rose more than 1%.
The House passed a $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, early Saturday. The Senate will now consider the legislation.
Trade data showed that the U.S. trade deficit in goods widened to $83.7 billion in January from a revised $83.2 billion in the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday. Imports of goods, such as consumer electronics, rose 1.1% to $218.9 billion in January. Goods imports were up 8.2% compared with a year earlier. Exports rose 1.4% to $135.2 billion, but were down 0.7% compared with one year ago.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
