Sensex gains 325 points; Nifty opens above 15,000

Tracking positive global news Indian benchmark indices opened on a strong footing. Sensex jumps 325 points to open at 50,730; while the boarder market index Nifty50 opened above the 15,000 mark at 15,029 gaining 81 points.

ONGC, M&M, HDFC Bank, NTPC & Maruti were top gainers on the Sensex. While stocks like Bajaj Auto, Powergrid, Ultratech Cement, Dr Reddy’s & IndusInd Bank were the laggards.

Sectorally all indices were trading in the green. Nifty Metal rose 1.34% followed by Nifty Realty was up 0.99%. While Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty IT & Nifty FMCG were trading with gains anywhere between 0.45% to 0.78% and Nifty Pharma was up 0.25%.

Overall market breadth was strong as buyers outnumbered sellers. On the NSE, 1,381 shares advanced and 367 stocks declined whereas 509 shares remained unchanged.

Stocks in spotlight

Maruti Suzuki India said the company produced a total of 1,68,180 vehicles in February 2021 as against 1,40,933 vehicles in February 2020.

The board of directors of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) approved to issue up to 1 crore equity shares to Windy Lakeside Investment (Windy) at a price of Rs 800 per equity share, for an aggregate consideration of up to Rs 800 crore.

Cipla (UK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cipla (EU) and a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary of Cipla, has been voluntarily liquidated with effect from 5th March 2021. This liquidation was a part of internal reorganisation and it will not affect the performance or revenue of the company.

Force Motors’ total sales stood at 1,634 vehicles in February 2021 while production was 1,829 vehicles in the same period.

NMDC said that the company has fixed prices of iron ore-lump ore (65.5%, 6-40mm) at Rs 5,100 per tonne and fines (64%, -10mm) at Rs 4,210 per tonne with effect from March 6.

Aarti Drugs said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Aarti Speciality Chemicals (ASCL) stands out to be one of the beneficiaries of the Government of India’s recently approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for the Pharmaceutical Sector.

Sayaji Hotels said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Sayaji Hotels Management (SHML), has signed and entered into seven management agreement for the expansion of SHML by having new properties in Andhra Pradesh, Gujrat, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Rushil Decor informed that the company has started the regular commercial production of Thin & Thick Medium Density Fiber Board (MDF Board) at the company’s new manufacturing unit situated at Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Monday on optimism over President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan and the global recovery.

US stocks recovered from earlier losses on Friday as investors took stock of a report that showed faster-than-expected U.S. jobs growth but which had previously stoked inflation concerns.

The U.S. Senate passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package over the weekend that includes direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans. The bill is expected to pass in the Democratic-held House this week and sent to President Joe Biden for his signature before a March 14 deadline to renew unemployment aid programs.