Key equity indices advanced for the second session and closed near the day's high with strong gains on Tuesday. The Sensex settled above the 50,000 mark while the Nifty managed to close above the 14,900 mark amid strong buying in the last hour of the trading session. Barring the Nifty PSU Bank index, all other sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. IT, auto and pharma shares were in demand.

Positive development surrounding global COVID-19 vaccination programmes and stabilizing US Treasury yields boosted sentiment. Buying was also triggered as India's GST collection for the month of February stood above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the fifth straight month, highlighting the signs of economic recovery.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, climbed 447.05 points or 0.90% at 50,296.89. The Nifty 50 index surged 157.55 points or 1.07% at 14,919.10.

Mahindra & Mahindra (up 4.98%), NTPC (up 3.83%) and Bajaj Auto (up 3.53%) were major index gainers.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.55% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.60%. Both these indices outperformed the benchmarks.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,852 shares rose and 1,156 shares fell. A total of 169 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 11,44,41,348 with 25,38,681 deaths. India reported 1,68,358 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,57,248 deaths while 1,07,98,921 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Economy:

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February 2021 came at Rs 1,13,143 crore of which CGST stood at Rs 21,092 crore, SGST at Rs 27,273 crore, IGST at Rs 55,253 crore (including Rs 24,382 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess at Rs 9,525 crore (including Rs 660 crore collected on import of goods).

The GST revenues crossed Rs 1 lakh fifth time in a row and crossed Rs 1.1 lakh crore third time in a row post pandemic despite this being revenue collection of the month of February. The GST revenues for February are 7% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenue from import of goods was 15% higher and the revenues from domestic transactions are 5% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

Meanwhile, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that on the first day of Telecom spectrum auction on Monday, winning bids received till 6 PM were worth 77 thousand 146 crore rupees. This has already substantially exceeded pre-bid estimates of 45 thousand crore rupees. He said, bidding took place for spectrum in 800, 900, 1,800, 2,100 and 2,300 Megahertz. Mr Prasad said, participants did not bid for 700 and 2,500 Megahertz. The auction of spectrum commenced at 10 AM yesterday and four rounds of bidding took place till 6 PM. Another one or two rounds are expected today. Three bidders, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio Infocomm are participating in the auction.

Numbers to Watch:

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.236% as compared with 6.209% at close in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 73.37, compared with its close of 73.55 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 April 2021 settlement rose 0.24% to Rs 45,415.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, rose 0.18% to 91.20.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2021 settlement rose 7 cents at $63.76 a barrel. The contract fell 73 cents, or 1.13% to settle at $63.69 a barrel in the previous trading session.

Foreign Markets:

European shares advanced while Asian stocks closed on a mixed note on Tuesday. U.S. stocks jumped on Monday in a broad-based rally as stocks tied to the economic reopening jumped on vaccine optimism, while tech names rebounded from steep losses last week.

U.S. manufacturing activity increased to a three-year high in February amid a surge in new orders. The ISM said its index of national factory activity rebounded to a reading of 60.8 last month from 58.7 in January. That was the highest level since February 2018.

Buzzing Indian Segment:

The Nifty IT index rose 3.04% to 25,301.85. The index jumped 4.12% in two sessions.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (up 7.26%), Mindtree (up 6.78%), Wipro (up 4.46%), Coforge (up 4.32%), Mphasis (up 4.07%), Tech Mahindra (up 3.49%), Infosys (up 3.29%), TCS (up 3.21%), HCL Technologies (up 2.06%) and Info Edge (India) (up 1.63%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bharti Airtel gained 1.68% after the company said that it has acquired 355.45 MHz spectrum across Sub GHz, mid band and 2300 MHz bands for a total consideration of Rs 18,699 crore. The spectrum was acquired in the latest spectrum auction conducted by the Department of Telecom, Government of India.

Vodafone Idea rose 2.80%. The company participated in the just concluded 2021 spectrum auction conducted by the Department of Telecom (DoT), Government of India.

"We have used this opportunity to optimize spectrum holding post-merger to create further efficiencies in few circles," the company said in a statement. "The spectrum we have acquired in the 5 circles will further help us to enhance our 4G coverage and capacity, enabling superior digital experience for our customers," it added.

BPCL surged 3.10% after the PSU OMC said its board has approved sale of 61.65% stake in Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) to a consortium of Oil India and Engineers India and to the Government of Assam. The company will sell 45.35 crore equity shares, or 61.65% equity, in NRL for Rs 9,875.96 crore. The final sale pact will be entered into after obtaining clearances from its shareholders, BPCL said.

Bajaj Healthcare added 2.40% after the company received consent from Maharashtra Control Board (MPCB) to resume its operations at Tarapur unit in Maharashtra. The MPCB had issued a notice on 14 January 2021 to the company directing the closure of operations at its Tarapur unit for alleged violation of the provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, Air (Prevention and Control Pollution) Act 1981 and the Rules made thereunder.

Hero MotoCorp rallied 3.73%. The two-wheeler manufacturer reported a 1.45% increase in total sales at 5,05,467 units in February 2021 from 4,98,242 units sold in the same month of the previous year. Domestic sales were at 4,84,433 units in February 2021 as against 4,80,196 units in February last year. Exports rose to 21,034 units as compared to 18,046 units.

Eicher Motors added 1.78%. Total Royal Enfield sales increased 10% to 69,659 units in February 2021 from 63,536 units in February 2020. Sequentially, the company's total motorcycles sales improved 1% last month from 68,887 units sold in January 2021. While the sales of models with engine capacity upto 350cc jumped 12% to 64,362 units, the sales of models with engine capacity exceeding 350cc declined 15% to 5,297 units in February 2021 over February 2020.

Cipla surged 2.86%. The drug major has received final approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Sumatriptan nasal spray, 20 mg from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The product is an AB-rated generic therapeutic equivalent version of GlaxoSmithKline's Imitrex nasal spray. Imitrex is a serotonin (5-HT1B/1D) receptor agonist (triptan) indicated for acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults. Separately, Cipla announced that its subsidiary, Cipla Gulf FZ LCC, is expanding its partnership with Alvotech for the marketing and distribution of four biosimilar medicines in Australia and New Zealand.

NMDC gained 1.67%. The state-owned company's iron ore sales climbed 11.68% to 3.25 million tonnes (MT) in February 2021 from 2.91 MT in February 2020. Iron ore production jumped 19.14% to 3.86 million tonnes (MT) in February 2021 from 3.24 MT in February 2020.

Coal India fell 0.58%. The state-run company's coal production, on a provisional basis, fell 6.6% to 61.9 million tonnes (MT) in February 2021 as against 66.2 MT in February 2020. Coal India's coal offtake in February 2021 stood at 51.2 million tonnes (MT), down 6.2% from 54.6 MT in February 2020. Sequentially, coal production rose 2.31% while offtake slipped 3.93% in February 2021 over January 2021.

IRCTC fell 2.16% on profit booking. The stock gained 19.6% in the past five sessions to end at Rs 1,939 yesterday, from its recent closing low of Rs 1,620.70 on 22 February 2021.

In a regulatory filing made after market hours on Monday (1 March 2021), IRCTC said that Ministry of Railways, in compliance of orders of High Court of Judicature at Madras, has directed IRCTC to terminate all existing contracts of mobile catering (currently kept in abeyance) involving scope of work of providing cooked food to passengers prepared from base kitchens as per the existing terms and conditions.