Mr. Jitendra Upadhyay, Sr. Equity Research Analyst, BONANZA PORTFOLIO LTD
Indian indices opened positive with Nifty above 17,700. At the time of closing, Sensex was up 415.49 points or 0.69% to close at 60,224.46 and Nifty was up 117.10 points or 0.67% to close at 17,711.45.
During the day, the market is on a strong footing for the second straight session with the benchmark indices opening gap-up on the back of positive global cues. Most sectors, barring realty, contributed to this rally, which made investors wealthier by nearly Rs 6 lakh crore in two days. The Centre, in the latest review, has hiked the windfall profit tax levied on crude petroleum to Rs 4,400 per tonne from Rs 4,350. The special additional excise duty on diesel has been reduced to Rs 0.5 a litre from Rs 2.5, while it has been slashed to nil on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel). Petrol continues to have zero special additional excise duty. The windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil and export of fuel is likely to give about Rs 25,000 crore in the current fiscal ending March 31.
FADA updates: Total vehicle retail sales up 16% to 17.75 lakh units and 2-wheeler sales were up 15% to 12.67 lakh units. Total 3-wheeler sales rose 81.5% to 72,994 units and total PV sales grew 11% to 2.87 lakh units. Total CV sales up 17.3% to 79,027 units.
The European Central Bank is set to raise borrowing costs by another half point at its March decision, according to President Christine Lagarde. A move of that size would take the ECB's rate increases since July to 350 basis points. China set a modest target for economic growth this year of around 5% on Sunday as it kicked off the annual session of its National People's Congress (NPC), which is poised to implement the biggest government shake-up in a decade. This year's growth target is at the low end of expectations. It is also below last year's target of around 5.5%. On the sectoral front, except for realty and PSU Bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the green.
Nifty 50 top gainers are, Adani Enterprises, Tata Motors, ONGC, NTPC, and Power Grid while Britannia, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Hindalco and Larsen & Tubro were among the top losers.