The Indian equities gained the most in Asia on Friday, as the upward trend in GST collections and lower oil prices buoyed the investor sentiment, which was aided by the Reserve Bank of India’s data showing a jump in vehicle and medium-sized loans in February. More than a third of the Sensex’s gain on Friday was driven by the HDFC twins. Shares of HDFC Bank and HDFC jumped around 2.5% to their highest levels since February. While State Bank of India advanced 3%, IndusInd Bank surged 3.6%. The Bank Nifty gained 2.1% to close at 37,148.50 points. Shares of Bajaj Finance rose 2.1%.
The last half-hour surge on Dalal Street took the benchmarks to their two-month highs. GST collections for March rose 15% from a year ago to touch a record high of Rs 1.42 trillion, a release from the finance ministry after market hours showed.
“Dalal Street shrugged off weak overnight Wall Street cues and the sluggish Asian cues in the morning as the upward trend in GST collections and falling prices of oil buoyed the sentiment. Bargain hunting and momentum buying will continue to be the preferred theme, as the Nifty will be aiming to reclaim the 18,000-mark,” said Prashanth Tapse, VP (research), Mehta Equities.
The Sensex surged 708.18 points to settle at 59,276.69 points while the Nifty50 gained 205.70 points to end the session at 17,670.45 points. Both the gauges gained 1.2% on Friday.
According to Kotak Institutional Equities, the realised monthly volatility of the BSE-200 index has decreased marginally in March. Despite the decrease in volatility, the ratio of absolute index move to the average absolute index constituent increased slightly, signifying a higher correlation between the index constituents. “The correlation between the returns of the BSE-200 index constituents and the returns of BSE- 200 index dropped, but remains more than one standard deviation above the long-term, showcasing that this is a market-driven by macro factors rather than stock picking.”
Meanwhile, foreign investors bought Indian equities worth $251.99 million on Friday to mark their third consecutive day of purchase. Foreigners have bought equities to the tune of nearly $1 billion over the last three sessions. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors sold shares worth $24.3 million, provisional data on the exchanges showed.
All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by the BSE ended the day in green, with BSE Power and BSE Utilities surging 3.2% and 3.4%, respectively.
