The government’s capex plan is also another reason the market is moving in an uncharted territory. Heavy buying by FIIs also helped sentiments of investors, who believe the indices will keep scaling new highs.
“The fundamental factor supporting India’s outperformance in February is the Q3 results, which have beaten expectations by an impressive margin, across industries. There are clear indications that we are in an expansionary phase in the earnings cycle. If this momentum sustains and the FIIs continue to buy, the market can move up further,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Factors driving markets
- Progress on stimulus front: US President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress forged ahead with their stimulus plan on Friday as lawmakers approved a budget outline that will allow them to muscle through in the coming weeks without Republican support.
- Q3 earnings: So far, India Inc’s earnings reports have beaten analysts’ expectations, lifting the morale of investors who believe corporations are mostly out of the crisis.
- Dollar falls: The dollar fell from an over two-month peak on Friday, after a US jobs report indicated a slow recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
How bluechips are doing
After opening in the green, benchmark indices strengthened their lead. At 10:26 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 677.38 points or 1.34 per cent at 51,409.01. NSE benchmark Nifty followed, and added 184.35 points or 1.24 per cent to 15,108.60.
In the 50-share pack Nifty, M&M was the biggest gainer, up 10 per cent. Adani Ports, GAIL, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Hindalco and IndusInd Bank were among other gainers.
Divi’s Labs was the top loser in the pack, down 2.13 per cent. Britannia Industries, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and JSW Steel were other losers in the pack.
Broader markets
Broader market indices traded with gains in line with their headline peers in morning trade. Nifty Smallcap was up 1.09 per cent while Nifty Midcap added 1.43 per cent. The broadest index on NSE — the Nifty 500 — was up 1.13 per cent.
Bajaj Electric, Affle India, KEC International, Adani Enterprises, Shriram Transport Finance and AU SFB were among major gainers from the space, while BHEL, L&T Tech Services, Future Retail, Indiamart Intermesh, StridesPahrama and Rashtriya Chemicals were under selling pressure.
Global markets
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.3 per cent at 717.2, having climbed to as high as 730.16 late last month.
Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2 per cent, while Australian shares advanced 0.8 per cent, led by technology and mining shares. Chinese shares were mildly positive with the blue-chip CSI300 index up 0.1 per cent.
The E-mini futures for S&P 500 added 0.4 per cent in early Asian trade.
