The frontline equity indices ended with strong gains on Wednesday, snapping an eight-day losing streak. The Nifty settled a tad above the 17,450 mark after hitting day's low of 17,345.25 in early trade. Positive global cues triggered bargain hunting in domestic shares. Not a single sector closed in the red. Metals, IT and banks shares rallied.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 448.96 points or 0.76% to 59,411.08. The Nifty 50 index added 146.95 points or 0.85% to 17,450.90. In the past eight sessions, the Sensex slipped 3.84% while the Nifty fell 4.06%.
SBI (up 2.69%), Axis Bank (up 2.54%), TCS (up 2.16%) and Reliance Industries (up 0.92%) were boosted the indices.
Meanwhile, the NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 7.31% to 13.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.35% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.38%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,411 shares rose and 1,097 shares fell. A total of 118 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in February recorded a 12% year-on-year jump at over Rs 1.49 lakh crore, the fourth highest collection ever. "Normally, February being a 28-day month, witnesses a relatively lower collection of revenue," the Union finance ministry said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, India's GDP or gross domestic product slowed to 4.4% in the October-December quarter 2022, primarily due to a 1.1% contraction in manufacturing, along with weaker private consumption demand and government expenditure, according to the second advance estimates released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Tuesday.
For the full financial year 2022-23, the National Statistics Office (NSO) has retained the growth estimate at 7% in the second advance estimates. According to the first advance estimates released last month, the GDP growth was pegged at 7% for 2022-23. In financial year 2021-2022, India's economy grew at 8.7%.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was at 55.3 in February, little-changed from 55.4 in January and signaling a strong improvement in the health of the sector. The headline figure was also above its long-run average of 53.7.
India's core sector output, comprising eight sectors including coal and electricity accounting for nearly 40% of industrial output, jumped 7.8% in January 2023, the official data showed yesterday. The production of fertilizers, coal, electricity, steel, natural gas, cement and refinery products increased in January 2023 over the corresponding month of last year.
Numbers to track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper declined to 7.441 from 7.457 in previous trading session.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 82.5125, compared with its close of 82.5800 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2023 settlement added 0.03% to Rs 55,771.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.45% to 104.40.
The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.55% to 3.936.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2023 settlement lost 67 cents or 0.81% to $82.78 a barrel.
Global Markets:
Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Wednesday as investors digested a slew of key economic data across the region.
China's factory activity in February showed further growth. China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 52.6 in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. That's compared to January's reading of 50.1. Non-manufacturing PMI rose to 56.3, above January's reading of 54.4, the highest level since June 2022.
Japan's factory activity slowed at the fastest pace in two and a half years in February, private surveys by au Jibun Bank showed. The manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 47.7, down from 48.9 in January.
Australia's economy grew 2.7% for the whole of 2022, in line with economists expectations, but lower than 2021′s figure of 5.9%.
US stocks fell on Tuesday, as more evidence of stubborn inflation added to expectations that central banks will keep rates high.
February Auto Sales Impact:
Maruti Suzuki India advanced 1.60% after the car major said that its total sales rose 5.04% to 172,321 units in February 2023 as compared with 164,056 units in February 2022.
Bajaj Auto added 1.68%. The two wheeler maker's total sales declined 11% to 2,80,226 units in February 2023 compared with 3,16,020 units sold in February 2022. Total domestic sales surged 36% to 1,53,291 units, while exports tumbled 38% to 1,26,935 units in February 2023 over February 2022.
Tata Motors rose 1.27% after the company's total domestic and international sales for February 2023 stood at 79,705 vehicles, up 2.54% compared to 77,733 units during February 2022.
Mahindra & Mahindra rose 0.30%. The auto major said that its overall auto sales for the month of February 2023 stood at 58,801 vehicles, registering a growth of 8% as against 54,455 vehicles sold in February 2022. On a sequential basis, M&M's total auto sales fell 8.6% in February 2023 as against 64,335 units sold in January 2023.
Escorts Kubota fell 0.71%. The company said that its Agri Machinery business in February 2023 sold 7,811 tractors, registering a growth of 27.8% as against 6,114 tractors sold in February 2022. Domestic tractor sales in February 2023 were at 7,245 tractors registering a growth of 27.4 percent as against 5,686 tractors sold in February 2022.
Eicher Motors added 1.10% after the auto giant's its unlisted subsidiary, VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) sales of commercial vehicles (CV) grew 24.5% to 7,289 units in February 2023 as compared with 5,856 units sold in February 2022.
Ashok Leyland declined 1.10%. The company reported 27% jump in total vehicle sales to 18,571 units in February 2023 from 14,657 units in February 2022. While medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales increased by 35% YoY to 12,668 units, total light commercial vehicles (LCV) sales rose by 12% YoY to 5,903 in the month of February.
Steel Strips Wheels advanced 1.69% after the company said that it had achieved a net turnover of Rs 350 40 crore in February 2023 as against Rs 317.72 crore in February 2022, recording a growth of 10.29% on a YoY basis. The company's gross turnover in February 2023 was Rs 432.21 crore, up by 10.54% from Rs 390.97 crore in February 2022.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Uflex surged 9.55% after the company clarified that that the IT department did 'not seize anything incriminating' from the company in the raid conducted for seven consecutive days.
Delhivery rose 1.23% to Rs 348.40 amid heavy volumes. The media reported that Svf Doorbell (Cayman) an entity of SoftBank is looking to sell 3.4% stake in the company at a floor price of Rs 335.10 per share.
Based on the December quarter shareholding pattern, Svf Doorbell (Cayman) held 18.4% stake in the company.
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