Sensex, Nifty50 open higher amid positive global cues; metal, IT, PSU banks top gainers

• All sectoral indices were in the green, metal, IT and PSU Banks were the top gainers.
• Adani Enterprises was the top gainer in Nifty50 with 8% gains, while Adani Ports & SEZ rose 2% in early trade.
• Global markets also traded higher ahead of US Fed Jerome Powell’s testimony this week as he will give his semiannual monetary policy report to Congress.
  

Indian benchmark indices opened in the green on Monday, led by gains in Adani group stocks and positive cues from global markets.

All sectoral indices were in the green with metal, IT and PSU Banks being the top gainers. Sensex was up 0.72% or 448 points at 60,257 while Nifty50 gained 0.75% or 132 points higher at 17,725.

“The trend reversal in Nifty led by banking and metals has more legs to go. When the market gets oversold, as happened in recent weeks, the bounce back triggered by short-covering can be sharp. This week may throw up some important triggers relating to US non-farm payroll data and takeaways from the Fed chief Powell’s views on the US economic outlook,” said Dr V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Adani Group shares continued to rally despite ICRA downgrading its outlook on Adani Ports & SEZ and Adani Total Gas from stable to negative. Deterioration in the group’s financial flexibility is the reason behind the negative outlooks, says ICRA.

Adani Enterprises was the top gainer in Nifty50 with 8% gains while Adani Ports & SEZ with 2% gains.

“Since the trends from the mother market US are crucial for global equity markets, investors have to watch out for these data. The rally in banking stocks may gather momentum taking cues from the GQG investment in four Adani stocks. The oversold IT stocks also have the potential to stage a mild rally. Oil & Gas and capital goods segments appear strong,” added Vijayakumar.

Last week, GQG Partners, a US-based global equity investment firm, bought stakes in four listed Adani group companies – Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises – for ₹15,446 crore via block deals. This gave a much needed boost to these stocks that have been beaten down since the Hindenburg Research came out on January 24, alleging stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate.
Source: NSE at 9:31 am.

Positive flows from FIIs also aided the positive momentum in the market today. FIIs pumped in ₹246 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) invested ₹2,089 crore on Friday.

Global markets also traded higher ahead of US Fed Jerome Powell’s testimony this week as he will give his semiannual monetary policy report to Congress.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.17% while S&P 500 gained 1.61%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 1.97% higher.

In Asia, too, the sentiments were positive, led by Nikkei 225 which gained 1.19%. Taiwan Weighted edged up 1.17%, KOSPI was up 1.02% and Hang Seng was up 0.08%. Meanwhile Shanghai SE was down 0.24%.

Stocks to watch
Reliance Industries, ONGC: The government has marginally hiked windfall tax on locally produced crude oil to ₹4,400 per tonne from ₹4,350 per tonne. Meanwhile, it reduced the export duty on diesel to ₹0.5 per litre and scrapped export duty for aviation turbine fuel (ATF). The new rates will be applicable from March 4.

HDFC: NCLT has approved the amalgamation of HDFC Property Ventures and HDFC Venture Capital with HDFC Capital Advisors, subsidiary of HDFC.

Mahanagar Gas: The company signed an agreement to acquire rival private sector city gas distributor Unison Enviro from its promoters and existing shareholders. Unison Enviro is a subsidiary of Ashoka Buildcon. This acquisition will enable Mahanagar Gas, a subsidiary of GAIL, to expand into five new markets.

Info Edge: The company’s arm Redstart Labs will invest about ₹5.2 crore in Sploot, which provides products and services to pet parents with respect to the pet’s health, behaviour and nutrition through content and app based help.


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