Strong buying in financial and energy heavyweights, such as HDFC twins, Reliance Industries, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and NTPC, helped market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty end the week on a strong note on April 1.
The sentiment improved tracking the European market which traded in the green as investors bought equities amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and prospects of monetary policy tightening.
Crude oil prices eased and the rupee gained further strength against the dollar which also influenced market sentiment. Brent Crude traded near $105 a barrel and the rupee closed 12 paise higher at 75.79.
Sensex ended 708 points, or 1.21 percent, higher at 59,276.69 while the Nifty50 closed the day at 17,670.45, up 206 points or 1.18 percent.
BSE Midcap and smallcap indices closed 1.39 percent and 1.71 percent higher, respectively. Among the sectors, BSE Utilities and power rose 3.44 percent and 3.16 percent, respectively. The sectors of oil & gas, realty, finance, energy and bank closed over 2 percent higher each.
For the week, Sensex rose 3.34 percent and Nifty clocked a gain of 3.02 percent. The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to ₹267.88 lakh crore from ₹259.85 lakh crore on March 25, making investors richer by ₹8.03 crore in a week.
On the macroeconomic front, the gross goods and services tax (GST) collections hit an all-time high in March. GST revenue collected in the month of March 2022 is ₹1.42 lakh crore, the highest ever since the implementation of the new taxation system, Mint reported.
"The enthusing uptick in the GST revenues in March 2022 has mirrored the rebound in the GST e-way bill generation in the previous month. We expect collections to rise further in the next month, benefitting from improved economic activity and year-end adjustments," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.
"The stock market kicked off FY23 on a positive note. It started the day muted and in line with global markets but strengthen as the day progressed as the broad market picked up and buying increased in sectors like banks, power and realty. Cabinet approval for mega power policy, drop in crude and improvement in global futures ignited the rally. Russia- Ukraine war, movement of crude and RBI monetary policy meetings would be the major factors that will dictate the near trend," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, observed markets saw broad-based gains with most sectoral indices giving positive returns. Crude oil prices corrected this week and that is positive for import-dependent countries including India.
“Commodity price movements, inflation numbers and central bank policy decisions are a few key factors that will likely weigh on the domestic and global markets,” said Chouhan.
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