Sensex soars 1149 pts, Nifty above 16,600 mark; breadth strong

Key equity barometers surged in early trade amid bargain hunting after yesterday`s slump. All the sectoral indices on the NSE rallied. PSU banks, metals and realty shares surged.

At 9:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 1,148.86 points or 2.11% to 55,678.77. The Nifty 50 index jumped 355 points or 2.18% to 16,602.95. Both the indices slumped over 6.2% in the past seven consecutive sessions.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index spurted 3.40% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index surged 3.88%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 2308 shares rose and 559 shares fell. A total of 89 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 6,448.24 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 7,667.75 crore in the Indian equity market on 24 February, provisional data showed.

Economy:

American credit rating agency, Moody`s Investors Service has raised India`s growth forecast to 9.5% from 7% for the calendar year 2022, citing a stronger-than-expected economic recovery from the national lockdown of 2020 and the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2021.

Moody`s said in a statement that they have raised the 2022 calendar year growth forecasts for India and maintained the forecast for 5.5% growth in 2023. This translates into 8.4% growth in fiscal year 2022-23 and 6.5% growth in fiscal year 2023-24. However, it flagged high oil prices and supply distortions as a drag on growth.

It said, Indian economy is estimated to have surpassed the pre-COVID level of GDP by more than 5% in the last quarter of 2021 and added that sales tax collection, retail activity and PMIs suggest solid momentum.

The Agency said, 2022 Budget prioritised growth, with a 36 percent increase in allocation to capital expenditure to 2.9% of GDP for the fiscal year 2022-23. It said, with the RBI leaving interest rates unchanged at its February meeting, monetary policy remains supportive.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Linde India jumped 4.37%. On a consolidated basis, net profit of Linde India rose 19.42% to Rs 67.83 crore on 35.49% rise in net sales to Rs 644.15 crore in Q4 December 2021 over Q4 December 2020. The board recommended a total dividend of Rs 13.50 per share. It includes a special dividend of Rs 10 per share.

Cupid rose 3.16%. The company on Thursday announced that it received a purchase order from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for supply of male condoms worth Rs 4.25 crore and water based lubricant worth Rs 1.01 crore.

Wipro rose 3.37%. The company on Thursday announced that it will be hiring more than 500 new professionals over the next fiscal year to support its growth in delivering cloud solutions to clients.

Infosys rose 2.16%. The IT major has launched Infosys metaverse foundry to ease and fasttrack enterprises` exploration of the metaverse, including virtual and augmented environments, for their customers, workplace, products and operations.

NHPC rose 1.28%. NHPC has signed a facility agreement with HDFC Bank to securitize the RoE of Chamera-I Power Station for a tenor of 10 years. The amount of Securitization facility has been arrived Rs 1,016.39 crore at 5.24% p.a. discounting rate linked with 3 months T-Bills.

Seacoast Shipping Services spurted 7.58%. The board of directors has taken note of acceptance mail received from the Government of Gujarat for the proposal of the company to work with the Government of Gujarat in joint venture.

Arihant Capital Markets rose 3.95%. The company`s board will on 3 March 2022 consider an interim dividend for the financial year 2021-22 and sub-division of face value of equity shares of the company from Rs 5 per share to Re 1 per share.

Hazoor Multi Projects jumped 4.85%. The company has received letter of intent from Gayatri Projects for completion of balance work of Chainage in district Ahmednagar, Maharashtra on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks rose on Friday as investors assessed the Russia-Ukraine conflict following a massive comeback on Wall Street overnight.

US stocks ended sharply higher on Thursday in a dramatic market reversal as US President Joe Biden unveiled harsh new sanctions against Russia after Moscow began an all-out invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said Washington will seek to isolate Russia from the global economy by introducing new sanctions following Moscow`s invasion of Ukraine. The White House has also authorized additional troops to be stationed in Germany as NATO allies look to bolster defenses in Europe, Biden said.

The European Union also agreed to more sanctions on Russia, calling on the country to stop all military action and withdraw its forces.

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