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Benchmark Indian equity indices opened firm on Friday following positive cues from Asian peers. U.S. equities clinched record highs on Thursday, powered by a rally in technology shares, as weekly jobless claims fell to the lowest level since November and US President approved $1.9 trillion stimulus bill.

In opening trade, Sensex jumped 520 points to open at 51,800, broader market index Nifty50 opened at 15,320 rising 145 points.

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ONGC, IndusInd Bank & Titan were top gainer on the Sensex up over 1.20%. On the downside, only three stocks Nestle, Sun Pharma & Bajaj Auto opened in the red.

All sectoral indices opened in green. Nifty Metal rose the most 1.33%, followed by Nifty Bank gaining 1.11%, Nifty IT was up 0.64%, Nifty Auto & Nifty Pharma rose 0.29% & 0.15% respectively.

The volatility index, India VIX cooled further by 3.79% trading below 20 levels at 19.96.

BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap also followed the benchmark indices gaining 0.64% & 0.82%

Stocks in spotlight
Infosys said that its business process management arm Infosys BPM has on Thursday announced a five-year extension to its strategic collaboration with Newmont Corporation, the world’s largest gold mining company, to standardize and digitize delivery models across its mine sites.

Wipro on Wednesday announced the appointment of Pierre Bruno as chief executive officer for Europe. Pierre Bruno will lead Wipro’s business in six distinct regions across Europe. This appointment, a bold indication of the company’s continued investment and focus on the European market, builds on Wipro’s momentum across the region in recent years, Wipro said in a statement.

The board of BPCL will meet on Tuesday, 16 March 2021, to consider a proposal for declaration of the second interim dividend for FY2021.

The board of GAIL (India) will consider payment of the second interim dividend for FY 2020-21 on March 15.

JSW Steel’s crude steel production fell by 1% to 13.06 lakh tonnes in February 2021 compared with 13.20 lakh tonnes in February 2020. Meanwhile, production of flat-rolled products declined 6% to 9.27 lakh tonnes in February 2021 as against 9.82 lakh tonnes in February 2020. Production of long rolled products jumped 10% to 3.4 lakh tonnes in February 2021 from 3.08 lakh tonnes in February 2020.

AstraZeneca Pharma India has received import and market permission in Form CT-20 (subsequent New Drug Approval) from the Drugs Controller General of India for osimertinib 40mg/80mg film-coated tablets (Tagrisso).

The board of Quick Heal Technologies on Wednesday approved a proposal to buyback 63,26,530 equity shares of the company (equivalent to 9.85% of the total paid-up equity share capital of the company) at Rs 245 apiece. The aggregate consideration of the buyback shall not exceed Rs 155 crore.

IDBI Bank said that the bank has been taken out of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework by the RBI. The bank has provided a written commitment that it would comply with the norms of minimum regulatory capital, net NPA and leverage ratio on an ongoing basis.

Borosil Renewables said that the government’s recent decision to impose a countervailing duty and a basic customs duty on certain import items will benefit the company. The Ministry of Finance (MOE), Government of India, has imposed a countervailing duty ranging from 9.71% to 10.14 of cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value for a period of 5 years, on imports of textured tempered coated or uncoated solar glass from Malaysia or of which origin is in Malaysia and exported from some other country or of which origin is some other country and exported from Malaysia.

NBCC (India) has executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 5 March 2021 with the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna for the supervision of construction and development of institute campus, hostel and residential buildings, at NIT Patna. NBCC is the project management consultant (PMC) for this project of value Rs 468 crore.

Separately, NBCC (India) on Thursday, 11 March 2021, announced that it has awarded two separate work orders to Backbone Construction-Sangeeta Engineering & Contracts (JV) and Hayagrev Civil Engineering.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks drifted higher Friday, taking cues from Wall Street where U.S. stocks climbed to record highs overnight.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared to a record on Wednesday after falling bond yields and a new stimulus package spurred investors to snap up stocks that will benefit from a faster recovery from the pandemic.
The blue-chip Dow jumped 464.28 points, or 1.5%, to close at a record high of 32,297.02. The S&P 500 added 0.6% to 3,898.81, led by energy and financials. The Nasdaq Composite closed less than 0.1% lower at 13,068.83 after gaining as much as 1.6% earlier in the day.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which will send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans.

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank said it expects to increase bond purchases significantly next quarter. Bond yields in the eurozone have been ticking higher since February, in line with the yield on U.S. Treasury notes.

Data showed consumer prices rose 1.7% in February from the same month in 2020. The gauge had risen 1.4% in January. The underlying measure of price rises, which strips out food and energy, rose 1.3% on a year-on-year basis, down 0.1% point compared with the previous month.