Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 20 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market
Asian markets experienced upward movement, influenced by the positive momentum on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached a new record high, surpassing the 40,000 mark with a gain of over 0.8%. Meanwhile, the broader Topix remained stable. South Korea’s Kospi showed a significant surge of 1.43%, and the Kosdaq also recorded a gain of 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures hinted at a steady opening. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, inched up by 0.2%. This followed a five-week winning streak interruption with a slight decline last week.
On Friday, the US stock market indices surged, marking record highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, buoyed by advancements in technology stocks and a decline in Treasury yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 90.99 points, or 0.23%, closing at 39,087.38, while the S&P 500 soared by 40.81 points, or 0.80%, reaching 5,137.08. The Nasdaq Composite experienced a notable increase of 183.02 points, or 1.14%, concluding at 16,274.94. Throughout the week, the S&P 500 saw a gain of 0.95%, the Nasdaq rose by 1.74%, whereas the Dow experienced a slight decline of 0.11%.
Stocks News:
đ Godrej Properties: The Mumbai-based real estate developer has entered into definitive agreements to develop a township project on a 62-acre land parcel in North Bengaluru under a profit-sharing model. This project offers 5.6 million square feet of saleable area with an estimated booking value of Rs 5,000 crore. The company now expects to launch the first phase of development on this land in the upcoming financial year.
đ NTPC: The state-run power producer said the board has given investment approval for the Singrauli super thermal power project, Stage III (2×800 MW). The current estimated cost of the project is Rs 17,195.31 crore.
đ SJVN: Subsidiary SJVN Green Energy (SGEL) has bagged the 200 MW solar power project in the tariff-based competitive bidding conducted by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam at a tariff of Rs 2.66 per unit. This 200 MW solar power project will be developed on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis, and the tentative cost of its development will be around Rs 1,100 crore. The power purchase agreement will be signed between GUVNL and SGEL for 25 years.
đ Vedanta Resources, the parent company of Mumbai-based mining giant Vedanta Limited, aims to cut its debt by up to $3 billion over the next three years, as stated by Navin Agarwal, Vice Chairman of Vedanta Ltd, during an analyst meeting. The focus is on deleveraging, with no plans to roll over loans in the coming years. The projected pre-growth capex cash flow for Vedanta Ltd in fiscal year 2025 is USD 3.5-4 billion, deemed sufficient for securing debt maturities of USD 1.5 billion.
đ Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sell shares worth Rs 81.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold Rs 44.71 crore worth of stocks on March 02, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Domestic and International Events
- High-frequency data for February released on Friday showed India’s economy continues to cruise after posting a better-than-expected 8.4% expansion in the December quarter. Goods and services tax (GST) collection surged 12.5% to âš1.68 lakh crore, auto firms posted their highest monthly sales and manufacturing activity hit a five-month high. Data released on Thursday showed the economy is likely to expand 7.6% in FY24, higher than 7.3% projected in January.
- The governmentâs dividend collection from non-financial central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and other investments so far this fiscal has breached the revised estimate to touch Rs 51,556 crore, reflecting robust profitability of these entities, showed the latest finance ministry data. The interim budget last month estimated such dividend receipts at Rs 50,000 crore for the current fiscal, higher than the initial target of Rs 43,000 crore.
- US manufacturing slumped further in February. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its manufacturing PMI fell to a seven-month low of 47.8 last month from 49.1 in January, Reuters reported. It was the 16th straight month that the PMI remained below 50, indicating a manufacturing contraction.
- Crude oil prices extended gains to trade near the highest level this year after OPEC extended its production cuts. Brent futures traded 0.30% higher at $83.80 a barrel after rising 2% on Friday, while the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 0.25% to $80.17, having breached the $80 level for the first time since November.
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 16,589 | 0.5 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,027 | 0.4 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 39,087 | 0.2 % |
| DAX | 17,735 | 0.3 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,683 | 0.7 % |
| Nikkei | 39,911 | 1.9 % |
| Straits Times | 3,136 | (0.2) % |
