Mr. Mitul Shah - Head of Research at Reliance Securities.
Indian equities ended higher led by banking and financial stocks, amid positive cues in global markets. Nifty was up 1.6%. Broader markets underperformed with Nifty Mid Cap and Nifty Small Cap gaining 0.7% and 0.8% respectively. All of the sectoral indices ended in green. Nifty PSU Bank was the major gainer which climbed 5.4% followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank which were up 3.6% and 2.1% respectively. Adani group stocks rallied post the block deal in the secondary market in four of the group stocks on Thursday between the promoters and a US based investment firm. This improved the overall sentiment in the market and especially in the PSU banks. India's services PMI expanded at the fastest pace in 12 years in Feb'23 on strong demand. The index rose from 57.2 in January to 59.4 in February. Strong growth in services activity boosted the composite index to 59.0 in February from January's 57.5, despite manufacturing growth slowing to a four-month low.
U.S. stocks climbed, with gains across sectors offsetting declines in financial and consumer discretionary stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Nasdaq gained 0.7% and the Dow Jones edged up 1%. Yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose further to 4.078%. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims decreased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 last week. Weekly claims have remained below the 2019 pre-pandemic average of about 220,000 since the start of the year.
Looking ahead, the markets will closely track global cues over the next week.