On Monday, Indian equity benchmarks closed higher, with gains of more than a per cent, following good signals from global markets and positive takeaways from the Economic Survey report. All eyes were now on the impending Union Budget, which will be presented in Parliament by the Finance Minister on February 1.

The Nifty50 has formed a small positive candle on the daily chart with a minor upper shadow, and one may expect further upside in the short term, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

“After sustaining above important uptrend line support around 16,800-16,900 on the daily and weekly charts, the upside movement is along expected lines… One may expect the index to retest lower support if it fails to sustain momentum in the short term,” he said.

Shetti expects swing movements of 1-2% on either side on the Budget day.

Indian Indices

Sensex rose 813.94 points or 1.42% to 58,014.17 and Nifty was up by 237.90 points or 1.39% to 17,339.85 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 58,257.63 and 57,746.15, respectively. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index while Nifty traded in a range of 17,410.00 and 17,264.15 and there were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. 

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap index rising 1.76%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.99%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.17%, IT up by 2.70%, TECK up by 2.54%, Consumer Durables up by 2.50%, Energy up by 1.83%, while Metal down by 0.01% was the lone losing indices on BSE.

Support and Resistance levels

Key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 17,266, followed by 17,192.2. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,411.8 and 17,483.8, according to pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 3-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,515.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:00 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed. The Hang Seng gained 1.07% and the Nikkei 225 rose 1.07%. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.97%.

US Markets

The S&P 500 rose 83.70 points, or 1.9%, to 4,515.55.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 406.39 points, or 1.2%, to 35,131.86.

The Nasdaq rose 469.31 points, or 3.4%, to 14,239.88.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 59.94 points, or 3%, to 2,028.45

European Markets

European markets finished higher with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX was up 0.85% while France’s CAC 40 was up 0.39% and London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.04%.

Economic Survey 2022: To reach a $5 trillion GDP, India must invest $1.4 trillion in infrastructure by 2024-25

India needs to invest around $1.4 trillion by 2024-25 in order to achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) of $5 trillion by 2024-25, even as scaling up investment in the sector remains a challenge, the Economic Survey 2022 said. India invested a total of $1.1 trillion in infrastructure fiscal years 2008-17. “The challenge is to step up infrastructure investment substantially.  Keeping this objective in view, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) was launched with a projected infrastructure investment of around Rs 111 lakh crore (US$ 1.5 trillion) during FY 2020-2025 to provide world-class infrastructure across the country, and improve the quality of life for all citizens,” the survey said. NIP was launched with 6,835 projects, which has expanded to over 9,000 projects covering 34 infrastructure sub-sectors. Between financial years 2020 to 2025, sectors such as energy (24%), roads (19%), urban (16%), and railways (13%) amount to around 70% of the projected capital expenditure in infrastructure in India. “It (NIP) also envisages to improve project preparation and attract investment, both domestic and foreign in infrastructure,” the survey said.

Centre’s fiscal deficit rises to 50.4% of FY22 target in April-December 2021

The Centre’s fiscal deficit rose to 50.4% of the FY22 target in April-December 2021, with a huge increase seen in tax collections as well as capital expenditure for the month of December 2021, data released on January 31 by the Controller General of Accounts showed. In April-November 2021, the fiscal deficit had amounted to 46.2% of the full-year target. The latest numbers on the government’s finances come a day before the 2022 Budget is presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The Economic Survey for 2021-22, tabled today, said the Centre was “well on track” to meet its fiscal deficit target of 6.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The government’s finances are in far better shape this year. In the first nine months of FY21, the fiscal deficit had amounted to 145.5% of the target for the full year. For December 2021, the Centre posted a fiscal deficit of Rs 63,752 crore, down 23.2% from December 2020. This took the fiscal deficit for April-December 2021 in absolute terms to Rs 7.59 lakh crores. The Budget for FY22 had pegged the fiscal deficit for the full year at Rs 15.07 lakh crore.

Adani Total Gas plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in the CGD industry over the next eight years

Adani Total Gas Ltd (AGTL), a joint venture between billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group and France-based TotalEnergies, plans to invest a total of Rs 20,000 crore over the next eight years on the development of city gas distribution (CGD) projects after it recently won licenses for 14 new geographical areas (GAs) in the 11th round of bidding for these projects by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the company said in a statement on January 31. The company said it had an existing commitment to invest Rs 8,000 crore, to which another Rs 12,000 crore would be added for the new projects. With the new GAs, ATGL is now the largest city gas distribution company in the country catering to 52 GAs, 19 of which are operated along with its strategic JV partner Indian Oil Corporation.

Tata Motors reported a consolidated net loss at Rs 1451.05 crore in Q3

The company has reported net profit at Rs 175.85 crore for the quarter under review as compared to a net loss of Rs 638.04 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Total income of the company increased by 28.48% at Rs 12491.52 crore for Q3FY22 as compared to Rs 9722.53 crore for the corresponding quarter the previous year. On a consolidated basis, the company has reported a net loss at Rs 1451.05 crore for the quarter under review as compared to a net profit of Rs 2941.48 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. The total income of the company decreased by 4.50% at Rs 72931.86 crore for Q3FY22 as compared to Rs 76365.79 crore for the corresponding quarter the previous year.

AGS Transact Technologies underperforms on its launch, falling 8% below its IPO price

AGS Transact Technologies had a forgettable debut with the stock tanking nearly 8% at close even as the Indian market rallied more than one percent on January 31. After opening flat at Rs 176, the stock hit an intraday high of Rs 181.85 in early trade on the BSE but failed to sustain the gains. It slipped to the day’s low of Rs 153.80 and finally settled at Rs 161.30, down a 7.83% from the issue price of Rs 175 a share. On the National Stock Exchange, it closed 7.97% lower at Rs 161.05 after touching an intraday high of Rs 181.85 and a low of Rs 154. In terms of volumes, more than 1.76 crore shares changed hands on the NSE, and 11.63 lakh shares on the BSE.

Bulk Deal data

KREDENCE MULTI TRADING LIMITED  bought 1,00,000 shares of Aakash Exploration Ser L at Rs 255.00 per share on NSE.

RAJASTHAN GLOBAL SECURITIES PRIVATE LIMITED sold 6,17,350 shares in AGS Transact Tech Ltd at Rs 175.00 per share on the NSE.

CYBAGE SOFTWARE PRIVATE LIMITED bought 9,25,000 equity shares in Kirloskar Ferrous Ind Ltd at Rs 212.49 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

RAJIV AGARWAL and TARUN SETH picked up 2,41,450 and 2,00,000 equity shares in Oriental Trimex Limited at Rs 12.98 and Rs 13.00 per share respectively on the NSE.

AG DYNAMIC FUNDS LIMITED sold 1,00,000 shares in HP Adhesives Limited at Rs 388.61 per share on the NSE.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 3624.48 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 3648.65 crore in the Indian equity market on January 31, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

No security/stock has been put under the F&O ban for February 1. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.