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Markets hit fresh intraday highs amid strong India Services PMI
Mar-05-2025

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gaining rally in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty reaching their intraday high points, as India’s services sector activity expanded sharply in the month of February, boosted by improving domestic and international demand. New orders placed with Indian services companies rose at a faster rate, while the uptick in growth underpinned a quicker expansion in output and a substantial increase in employment during the reported month. According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index jumped to 59.0 in February from 56.5 in January. Further, the HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- also surged to 58.8 in February as against 57.7 in January. Positive cues from other Asian markets along with heavy buying at all the sectors boosted sentiments over the Street. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, as China maintained its growth target for 2025 but the government became more cautious about nominal growth and inflation outlook amid heightened uncertainty surrounding the U.S trade tariff threats. Premier Li Qiang said at the 14th National People's Congress that Beijing aims to achieve growth target of 'around 5 percent' for 2025, which was unchanged from the 2024 goal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73815.46, up by 825.53 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 72894.05 and 73848.49. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index soared 2.46%, while Small cap index was up by 2.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 3.83%, Power up by 3.38%, Metal up by 2.83%, Oil & Gas up by 2.79% and IT up by 2.74%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.55%, Power Grid up by 4.37%, Tata Steel up by 4.02%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.00% and NTPC up by 3.78%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.83%, HDFC Bank down by 0.65% and Indusind Bank down by 0.19% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi has said that non-tariff measures being announced by developed economies such as European Union's carbon tax and deforestation regulation limit market access for Indian goods in those markets. He said that the other challenges before Indian exports include insufficient integration with global value chains, high import duties, technology disadvantage, and high cost of logistics (about 8-9 per cent of GDP against 5-6 per cent in developed nations). 

He stated that the export window is also narrowing because of aggressive industrial policies of advanced nations like USA's Inflation Reduction Act and Chips Act, and UK's advanced manufacturing plan. Most non-tariff measures (NTMs) are domestic rules created by countries with an aim to protect human, animal or plant health and the environment. NTM may be technical measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection or non-technical measures like quotas, import licensing, subsidies, and government procurement restrictions. When NTMs become arbitrary, beyond scientific justification, they create hurdles for trade and are called NTBs (non-tariff barriers).

He further said that export credit as a percentage of total merchandise exports is only 28.5 per cent in India. He noted that total export credit provided is estimated at $124.7 billion as against the estimated requirement of $284 billion for a total merchandise export of $437 billion in 2023-24. Total export credit requirement is estimated for 2030 ($1 trillion goods exports target) at $650 billion. At current levels of financing of $124.7 billion, the trade credit gap is estimated to reach $525 billion by 2030. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) extends a total insurance cover of only $44.9 billion out of a total export credit of $124.7 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22360.65, up by 278.00 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 22067.80 and 22375.05. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Trent up by 5.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.52%, Power Grid up by 4.37%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.26% and Adani Enterprises up by 4.11%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.92%, HDFC Bank down by 0.58%, Indusind Bank down by 0.26% and Grasim Industries down by 0.23% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 522.76 points or 2.28% to 23,464.53, Jakarta Composite gained 158.76 points or 2.43% to 6,539.16, Shanghai Composite strengthened 13.24 points or 0.4% to 3,337.45, Straits Times rose 12.08 points or 0.31% to 3,902.84, KOSPI increased 31.42 points or 1.24% to 2,560.34, Nikkei 225 surged 72.07 points or 0.19% to 37,403.25 and Taiwan Weighted added 275.02 points or 1.2% to 22,871.90.
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