March 2: mid-session report

The Indian markets witnessed a strong rally for the second day along with all the major Asian counterparts. After the Union Budget this was the second trading session wherein all the major benchmark indices ended with gains of around 1 per cent. Today’s rally was led by the Bank Nifty which was up by more than 4 per cent in trade attributed to the RBI circular easing capital recognition norms.

Nifty was trading up by more than 149 points at 7370; and Sensex by 444 points at 24222. Both the leading indicators were trading up with gains of 2 and 1.9 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed the same trend as most of the stocks were trading in green. 1869 scrips were trading in the positive territory, 535 scrips were in red, however 110 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: SBI is leading the gainers list as it was trading up by close to 10 per cent followed by Bank of Baroda, Hindalco, BHEL and Vedanta which were up 8.40;7.70;6.60; and 6 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: M&M is leading the losers list, and is down more than 4 per cent, followed by ITC and Bajaj Auto which are down anywhere between 1.7 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

All the major sectors were trading in green. BSE Bankex was leading the way with gains of 4.35 per cent, followed by BSE Oil & Gas and BSE Capital Goods, which were trading up by 2.16 and 1.8 per cent respectively. BSE Small-Caps index also saw some heavy buying as it was trading up by 2.50 per cent. BSE Mid -Cap index too saw good action as it was up by 2.30 per cent.

Asian shares rallied to two-month highs on Wednesday due to overnight gains in oil prices and also owing to a batch of positive economic data from Australia to the United States that calmed fears of a global economic slowdown. Chinese benchmark index CSI ended the day with gains of more than 4 per cent with the announcement of 0.50 per cent reduction in reserve requirements by PBOC (Peoples Bank of China). Japanese Nikkei also surged in trade and closed the day with gains in excess of 4 per cent.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up more than 2.90 per cent in late trade. Korean Topix was also up by 1.60 per cent.

In commodities, Brent edged up on Wednesday following strong gains in Asian stocks, while U.S. oil eased due to industry data that showed a huge build in U.S. crude stockpiles that were already at a record high.

Buzzer: - SBI was buzzing in trade as it was trading up by 10 per cent quoting Rs 178 owing to developments related to capital recognition norms.

Fueled by Asia, European stock markets are seen opening with gains and major European Indices are expected to open in green. Britain's FTSE 100 is expected to open with the gains of 0.7-0.8 per cent, Germany's DAX is up by 1 per cent, and France's CAC was seen opening 0.8-1 per cent up.