Sensex up 100 points ahead of RBI monetary policy outcome

Benchmark equity Indian indices opened positive on Wednesday led by a positive note on account of global cues and IMF upgrades India Growth Forecast. Market participants will closely watch RBI’s interest rate decision in its first bi-monthly monetary policy of 2021-22 that is slated to be announced today.

In opening trade, Sensex rose 117 points or 0.24% to 49,318 whereas the broader market index Nifty50 traded at 14,744 up 60 points to 0.41%.

Powergrid, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries and ONGC were the top gainers on the Sensex. On the other hand, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma and HDFC twins were the laggards.

Barring Nifty IT index all other sectoral indices were trading in green. Nifty Realty index rallied the most up 1.58% followed by Nifty Metal rallying 1.36%. Nifty Auto & Nifty FMCG gained in the range of 0.50-0.75%.

The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices as BSE Midcap was up 0.57% & BSE Smallcap index rose 0.77%. Even the market breadth favoured the bulls as 1,288 shares advanced compared to 432 stocks declining whereas 523 scrips remained unchanged.

Stocks in spotlight:
Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) and Bharti Airtel will be in focus. Bharti Airtel announced an agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm to transfer the ‘Right to Use’ of Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) to Jio. Through this agreement, Airtel will receive a consideration of Rs 1037.6 crore from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 459 crore relating to the spectrum.

Tata Steel said that the company has achieved the highest ever quarterly crude steel production of 4.75 mn tons with a 3% QoQ growth in Q4FY21. Full-year FY21 production was lower by 7%YoY primarily due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in H1FY21.

Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP) said that the company has achieved the highest ever quarterly crude steel production of 186 thousand tons with a growth of 7% QoQ and 19% YoY on the back of debottlenecking at steel melting shop and arcing.

INOX Leisure said that the company’s board of directors approved raising funds up to Rs. 300 crore through issue of securities either by way of a public issue or by way of rights issue or by way of a private placement (including but not limited through a qualified institutional placement).

Shares of Barbeque-Nation Hospitality will debut on the bourses today, 7 April 2021. The firm has raised Rs 453 crore from the recently concluded initial public offering (IPO) in the price band of Rs 498-500.

Wonderla Holidays said that Wonderla Bangalore has announced the closure of water rides effective from 7th April till further notice, following the government directive. All land rides will be functional as normal.

Global markets:
Overseas, Asian are trading mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street pulled back from record highs reached in previous sessions.

U.S. stocks fell from record levels on Tuesday as the recent rally driven by signs of strong economic rebound took a pause.
On Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the state will reopen its economy by June 15 provided that coronavirus vaccine and hospitalization cases remain stable.

The IMF on Tuesday projected an impressive 12.5% growth rate for India in 2021, stronger than that of China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian economy is expected to grow by 6.9% in 2022.

The IMF revised up its forecast for the world economy. On Tuesday, the organization said it expects growth at 6% in 2021, up from a January prediction of 5.5%, and Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said that despite lingering uncertainties around the pandemic, a “way out of this health and economic crisis is increasingly visible.”