Sensex zooms 475 points; Nifty surpasses 15,100

After gaining nearly 2% in an extended trading session yesterday and tracking trends from global markets Indian benchmark indices opened firm ahead of the February series derivative contracts expiry. Sensex gained 475 points to open at 51,256 and Nifty at 15,131 up 149 points.

28 of 30 shares on the Sensex opened in green. IndusInd Bank, ONGC & Axis Bank rose 3% in opening trades while SBI & HDFC Bank traded with gains of close to 1.5%. On the downside, Nestle & Powergrid opened with losses in the range of 0.20% to 0.50%.

Market breadth favoured the bulls. 1,361 shares advance, 283 declined while 555 shares remained unchanged on the NSE.

All sectoral were trading in green. Nifty Bank, Nifty Metal, Nifty Realty gained over 1.5% in opening trades. Nifty IT rose 1.21% while Nifty Auto was up 0.50%. India VIX also cooled off further to 23 levels down 3.8%.

“In this volatile market, where dips and bounce backs are sharp, the directional trend is upwards. The ‘higher highs’ and ‘higher lows’ indicate the long-term bullish trend,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The fundamental reason for this trend, which is global, is the abundant liquidity available in the global financial system and the Fed’s declared commitment to keep liquidity flowing and maintaining interest rates at historical lows, he noted.

The broader market also followed the benchmark indices. BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap were trading with gains of around 1%.

Stocks in spotlight

Shares of Axis Bank will be in focus. Max Life has received formal approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), which vide its letter dated 24th February 2021 has granted approval to the Axis Entities, as promoters of Max Life, to collectively acquire 12.002% of the equity share capital of Max Life, by way of transfer of equity shares of Max Life from Max Financial to the Axis Entities.

Shares of Nureca will debut on bourses today, 25 February 2021. The final issue price was fixed at Rs 400 per share.

Just Dial has launched its B2B portal, Jd Mart, across various platforms for users. Jd Mart is an exclusive B2B portal for a new wholesale experience. B2B buyers can discover quality vendors offering a wide selection of products to choose from, spread across various categories to suit all their B2B needs.

Cochin Shipyard is joining hands with Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and IHC Holland BV to make world-class dredgers. A Memorandum of Understanding in this regard was signed on Wednesday.

H.G. Infra Engineering informed that the company has been declared as L-1 bidder by NTPC.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Thursday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a record closing high overnight.

Shares on Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, as a selloff in technology-related stocks eased and a rotation into cyclical shares continued after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments calmed inflation worries.

The moves on Wall Street came as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continued to downplay the threat of inflation, saying it could take three years to reach the central bank’s target consistently.

In Wednesday’s testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee, Powell said inflation could be volatile as the economy reopens and there’s increased demand. Still, the Fed chair does not expect inflation to run hot and said the central bank has tools to combat it if it should.

On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration’s staff endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, bringing in a third vaccine to the U.S.

The global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.17 per cent higher at USD 66.29 per barrel.