Sensex surged more than 600 points in opening trade on Tuesday, with Nifty up 159 points ahead of parliament’s presentation of the 2022-23 Union Budget.

The 30-share Sensex added 603.39 points or 1.04% to 58,617.56 and the broader Nifty added 159.25 points or 0.92% to 17,499.10.

IndusInd Bank was the biggest gainer in the Sensex sector, up 2.45%, followed by ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Kotak Bank and Bajaj Finserv.

Of the 30 Sensex constituents, 28 stocks trade in green. ITC and PowerGrid are laggards.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the 2022-23 federal budget in Parliament on Tuesday.

In the previous session, the 30-share BSE index closed up 813.94 points, or 1.42%, at 58,014.17. Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty was up 237.90 points or 1.39 per cent at 17,339.85.

On Monday, the Economic Survey reported that India’s economy is expected to grow by 8-8.5% in the fiscal year beginning April 1 and is well-positioned to meet future challenges on the back of widespread vaccine coverage, supply-side reforms and deregulation.

Meanwhile, India’s economy contracted by 6.6% in 2020-21, compared with a previous estimate of a 7.3% contraction, suggesting that the economic performance of the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic is not as bad as initially thought.

Output in eight infrastructure sectors rose 3.8% in December 2021, after contracting 0.4% in the same month last year, as coal, cement and refined products fared better, according to official data released on Monday.

“The Indian government’s fiscal position remains strong, with figures for the first nine months of this fiscal showing that the budget deficit has only been used up by half.

“The fiscal deficit stood at 50.4% in April-December 2022, compared to 145.5% last year. Stronger tax and non-tax revenue helped the government stabilize the budget,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

On Tuesday, Asian shares took advantage of the tailwinds of a U.S. technology-led rally driven by bargain hunters betting that this year’s stock market rout will subside. Several Asian markets, including China and South Korea, were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, he added.

The American Stock Exchange closed on a positive note in overnight trading.

Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 1.31% to $91.21 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the domestic capital market, withdrew Rs 3,624.48 crore on Monday, according to provisional data.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times