Indian equity benchmarks closed Friday’s trade with a gain of approximately two and a half percentage points, recouping half of their previous day’s losses, as traders sought bargains after U.S. President Joe Biden retaliated against Russia with harsh sanctions following its attack on Ukraine. Markets opened with a gap up and continued to trade with traction throughout the day amid buying across sectors, concluding near intraday highs.

The Nifty50 has formed a reasonable bull candle on the daily chart, reflecting the return of the bulls on Dalal Street, according to Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.

However, he warned that taking out crucial resistance at around 16,700-16,800 levels could be a tough task for the index in order to sustain the highs.

Indian Indices

Sensex surged 1,328.61 points or 2.44% to 55,858.52 and Nifty was up by 410.45 points or 2.53% to 16,658.40 in the previous session. Sensex touched high and low of 56,183.70 and 55,299.28, respectively. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index. Nifty traded in a range of 16,748.80 and 16,478.30. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

Broader Indices

The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Midcap index soaring 4.07%, while the Small cap index was up by 4.17%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 5.91%, Realty up by 5.47%, Power up by 4.64%, Utilities up by 4.43%, Basic Materials up by 4.16%, while there was no loser on BSE sectoral front.

Support and Resistance levels

Key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 16,508, followed by 16,358. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,779 and 16,899, according to pivot charts.

SGX Nifty

The trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 222-points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,699.20 on the Singaporean Exchange around 06:45 hours IST.

Asian Markets

Asian markets finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.95% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.63%. The Hang Seng lost 0.49%

US Markets

The S&P 500 rose 95.95 points, or 2.2%, to 4,384.65.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 834.92 points, or 2.5%, to 34,058.75.

The Nasdaq rose 221.04 points, or 1.6%, to 13,694.62.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 44.92 points, or 2.3%, to 2,040.93.

European Markets

European markets closed sharply higher on Friday with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 was up 3.91% while Germany’s DAX was up 3.67% and France’s CAC 40 was up 3.55%.

NSE Scam: Anand Subramanian is the ‘Himalayan Yogi’, confirms CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 25 arrested Anand Subramanian, former chief operating officer of NSE. He was arrested after three days of continuous questioning in Chennai. The former NSE executive has been brought to Delhi where he has been remanded to CBI custody till March 6. This is the first arrest in the four-year-old case. According to the initial investigation by the CBI into the 2018 National Stock Exchange (NSE) manipulation case, Subramanian was the mysterious Yogi who guided the actions of former NSE CEO Chitra Ramkrishna, reported CNBC-TV18 citing CBI sources. The sources said that the e-mail ID ‘[email protected]’ was created by Subramanian, which Chitra Ramkrishna used to transfer NSE’s confidential information from [email protected]. Anand Subramanian was arrested by the CBI after he was linked to the co-location scam in the National Stock Exchange following a report by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that pointed to a mysterious yogi guiding Chitra Ramkrishna’s actions.

Cabinet permits up to 20% FDI in LIC via automatic route

The Union Cabinet has approved foreign direct investment under the automatic route in the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), government sources told CNBC-TV18 on February 26. Up to 20 percent FDI will now be permitted under the automatic route in LIC and the existing FDI policy has also been “simplified and enhanced”, they added. Notably, the FDI ceiling for public sector banks is 20 percent under the approval route, and a similar limit has been maintained for LIC. The choice of automatic route however is expected to expedite the capital raising process. “The FDI reform will facilitate foreign investment in LIC and other such corporate bodies, for which the government may have a requirement for disinvestment purposes,” the sources said. According to the sources reform will facilitate ease of doing business and lead to greater FDI inflows. It will also ensure alignment with the overall intent / objective of the FDI policy at the same time, they added.

Reliance takes control of 200 Future Group stores, including Big Bazaar

India’s second-largest retailer, Future Retail Limited has suspended most of its online and offline operations as stores remained closed on Sunday after rival Reliance offered to take over its flagship supermarkets for missed lease payments, reported PTI. Kishore Biyani-led Future Group stores are now being re-branded as the Reliance stores. Reliance has taken over 200 Future Group stores and is in the process of transferring more than 30,000 Future Retail and Future Lifestyle employees over to its manpower and staffing firm called Reliance MSL, sources told Reuters on Saturday. Reliance’s takeover holds significance as it follows failed efforts since 2020 to close a $3.4 billion acquisition deal for retail assets of Future whose partner Amazon.com Inc has blocked the transaction citing violation contracts by Future. Amazon has long argued that Future violated the terms of a 2019 deal in which the US company invested $200 million in the Indian company. Amazon’s position has been supported so far by a Singapore arbitrator and Indian courts.

SEBI extends deadline for implementation of swing pricing mechanism for MFs

Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday extended the deadline to May 1 for implementation of the swing pricing mechanism, for mutual fund schemes, aimed at discouraging large investors from sudden redemptions, reported PTI. New rules intended to ensure fairness in the treatment of entering, exiting and existing investors in mutual fund schemes were to take effect on March 1. SEBI said in a circular that it has extended the implementation date of swing pricing mechanism provisions to May 1, 2022, based on a request received from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). In September last year, the regulator introduced a swing pricing mechanism for open-ended debt mutual fund schemes in an attempt to discourage large investors from sudden redemptions. Initially, the new framework will be applicable only for scenarios related to net outflows from the schemes.

SEBI suggests allowing FPIs to participate in commodity derivatives markets and issues a consultation paper

SEBI has proposed allowing foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to participate in the exchange-traded commodity derivatives market. In its consultation paper, the regulator has suggested that FPIs should be allowed to trade in all non-agricultural commodity derivatives and a few selected broad agricultural commodity derivatives, to begin with. The move is aimed at further increasing depth and liquidity in commodity derivative markets. “Enhanced liquidity can gradually enable the Indian commodity derivative market to serve as a global benchmark for various commodities thereby shifting India from the role of price taker to a price setter,” SEBI said. In addition, their participation may help bring down the transaction costs in the commodity futures segment, owing to economies of scale. Currently, foreign entities having actual exposure to Indian commodity markets, known as eligible foreign entities (EFEs), are allowed to participate in the Indian commodity derivatives market.

Bulk Deal data

SAHIL GUPTA bought 3,00,000 shares in Shalimar Paints Ltd at Rs 125.73 per share on the NSE.

BOFA SECURITIES EUROPE SA sold 30,62,024 shares in Nuvoco Vistas Corp Ltd at Rs 303.00 per share on the NSE.

SOCIETE GENERALE bought 5,30,000 shares of Steel Exchange India Ltd at Rs 214.48 per share on NSE.

ANUMOLU BHARAT sold 10,91,247 shares of Beardsell Limited at Rs 12.56 per share on NSE.

NALANDA INDIA EQUITY FUND LIMITED bought 5,65,000 shares in Advanced Enzyme Tech Ltd at Rs 289.86 per share on the NSE.

VELDI VARALAKSHMI sold 1,53,000 equity shares in Brooks Lab Limited at Rs 86.00 per share on the NSE, the bulk deals data showed.

RAJASTHAN GLOBAL SECURITIES PVT LTD picked up 1,44,004 equity shares in Btrfly Gandhi Appl Ltd at Rs 1380.02 per share respectively on the NSE.

J & P INVESTMENTS PARTNERSHIP sold 2,25,737 shares in Jagsonpal Pharma Ltd. at Rs 239.32 per share on the NSE.

DII and FII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 4,470.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 4,318.24 crore in the Indian equity market on February 25, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

NSE F&O Ban

No stock or security has been put under the F&O ban for February 28. 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.