Sensex soars 899 pts, Nifty ends above 23,190; Bharti Airtel jumps 4%

The domestic equity benchmarks closed with robust gains on Thursday, marking their fourth consecutive day of increase. Market sentiment improved in reaction to the US Federal Reserve's decision to hold rates and indicate future cuts. The Nifty opened above 23,000 and extended its gains, crossing 23,200 intraday before settling above the 23,190 mark. Volatility was observed during trading due to the weekly options expiry on the NSE. All sectoral indices on the NSE closed positively, with the energy, auto, and FMCG sectors leading the gains.

The S&P BSE Sensex surged 899.01 points or 1.19% to 76,348.06. The Nifty 50 index soared 283.05 points or 1.24% to 23,190.65. In the four consecutive sessions, the Sensex and the Nifty jumped 3.41% and 3.54%, respectively.

Bharti Airtel (up 4.17%), Reliance Industries (up 1.67%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.34%) boosted the indices today.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.61%, and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.73%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,410 shares rose and 1,606 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 5.22% to 12.60.

Economy:

The RBI's March Bulletin highlights the Indian economy's strong resilience and growth momentum despite global turbulence. Key factors include robust sectoral performance, rising consumption, and increased government spending. The National Statistics Office projects a steady 6.5% growth for 2024-25, supported by a 6.2% real GDP expansion in Q3. India's 2023-24 growth, excluding the post-COVID rebound, was the highest in over a decade, indicating stability. Both manufacturing and services sectors show positive trends, with increased activity and employment, further reinforcing the economy's positive trajectory.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper shed 0.30% to 6.749 as compared with the previous close of 6.769.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 86.3600, compared with its close of 86.3700 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for the 4 April 2025 settlement fell 0.17% to Rs 88,450.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.42% to 103.90.

The United States 10-year bond yield fell 0.82% to 4.211.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2025 settlement lost 10 cents or 0.14% to $70.68 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European markets declined on Thursday as investors awaited monetary policy announcement from the Bank of England.

Sweden?s central bank on Thursday voted to hold its key rate at 2.25% and said it would ?remain at this level going forward,? after inflation came in above-target at 2.9% in February.

The Swiss National bank on Thursday trimmed its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.25%, as widely anticipated. The rate decision comes as Swiss inflation fell to an almost four-year low of 0.3% on an annual basis in February, according to official figures.

Average wages in the U.K. increased 5.9% year on year across the November 2024 to January 2025 period, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. The rate was steady in the previous three-month period and in line with the forecast. Wage growth, including bonuses, came in at 5.8%. The average regular figure was 6.1% for the private sector and 5.3% in the public sector.

Most Asian stocks ended mixed as China?s central bank kept interest rates steady, after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept benchmark rates unchanged overnight.

The Taiwan?s central bank left the benchmark discount rate at 2%. The central bank held its policy rate unchanged, prompted by lingering concerns over inflation and uncertainty about new U.S. trade tariffs.

The People?s Bank of China kept the 1-year loan prime rate at 3.1% and the 5-year LPR at 3.6%, where they have been since a quarter-percentage-point cut in October. The rate decision follows the U.S. Federal Reserve?s move to hold benchmark interest rates.

On Wednesday, the Fed maintained its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range and signaled that two quarter-point rate cuts are likely later this year, consistent with its forecast from three months ago. This came even as the central bank, the Fed, cut its US economic growth forecasts and raised projections for price growth. The Fed flagged growing uncertainty over the impact of Trump?s policies on the economy.

As per the Fed?s quarterly economic projections, real GDP growth is expected to slow to 1.7% by the end of 2025, down from the 2.1% forecast in December. The unemployment rate is projected to rise slightly to 4.4%, compared to the previous estimate of 4.3%. Core inflation is now expected to end the year at 2.8%, up from the prior forecast of 2.5%.

Trump kept up his threats of reciprocal tariffs coming in April 2?a move that is likely to draw more retaliation from major global economies and spark a renewed trade war.

US stocks rallied following the decision amid encouragement that further cuts could be ahead. The Dow jumped 0.92%, and the S&P 500 surged just over 1.08%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.41%.

Tesla stock rose over 4% after advancing its robotaxi plans in California, and Boeing Co. jumped 7% on positive operational performance updates from its CFO.

Investors will monitor weekly jobless claims data on Thursday, as well as the Philadelphia Fed?s manufacturing survey and a report on existing home sales.

On the quarterly earnings front, Darden Restaurants, Nike, FedEx, and Micron Technology are set to report Thursday.

SoftBank announced on Wednesday its plan to acquire chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of the year.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Adani Enterprises rose 0.77%. The company, through its subsidiary Kutch Copper, formed a 50/50 partnership with Praneetha Ventures to launch Praneetha Ecocables (PEL). It will focus on manufacturing and distribution of metal products, cables, and wires. PEL, based in Ahmedabad, is newly incorporated with an authorized and paid-up share capital of Rs 10 lakh.

Following the update, KEI Industries (down 13.29%), Polycab India (down 6.59%), Dynamic Cables (down 6.27%), Finolex Cables (down 4.45%) and Havells India (down 3.51%) slumped. Traders anticipate increased competition and potential market share loss due to Adani's entry into the sector.

GPT Infraprojects surged 5.36% after the company said it was declared the L1 (lowest) bidder for an order worth Rs 481.11 crore from CAO Construction, South Eastern Railway, Kolkata, for a construction work.

Can Fin Homes added 2.61% after the company appointed Prashanth Joishy as chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel (KMP), effective from 20 March 2025. Joishy, confirmed as the next CFO by the company on March 15, will take charge on an interim basis. He shall hold the office until a permanent CFO is onboarded.

Marksans Pharma rallied 5.70% after the company announced that its Goa-based manufacturing facility has been approved by the Australian TGA for the manufacture of pharmaceutical formulations for Australian markets.

KPI Green Energy rose 3.8% after the company?s subsidiary Sun Drops Energia, received letters of award (LoA) for the development of solar power projects with a total capacity of 14.90 MW under the captive power producer business segment.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) jumped 2.88% to Rs 103.09 after a foreign broker maintained an 'outperform' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 170.

Hyundai Motor India shed 0.96%. The company announced that it will increase prices up to 3%, which will be effective in April 2025. The company stated that the price hike is due to rising input costs, increased commodity prices, and higher operational expenses, among other factors. The quantum of price increase will vary based on the variants and models.

Timex Group India rallied 3.46% after the company's board re-appointed Deepak Chhabra as managing director (MD) of the company for a period of three years, effective from 28 March 2025.

NCC jumped 2.31% after the company announced that it had received a letter of acceptance (LoA) worth Rs 2,129.60 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority for construction works in Amaravati Capital City.

Suraj Estate Developers rose 0.79%. The company said that it has acquired a land parcel measuring 390 square meters (4,200 square feet) at Shivaji Park, Dadar, Mumbai, for a total consideration of Rs 4.75 crore, fully paid, including stamp duty and registration charges.

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