The main factor influencing the market is likely to be the better-than-expected Q3 GDP growth number which has come at an impressive 8.4 per cent, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

However, it is important to note that the GVA has come on expected lines at 6.5 per cent. The difference between GDP growth and GVA is due to the excellent 32 per cent growth in net indirect taxes, he said.

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Significant internals from the GDP numbers are the 11.6 per cent growth in manufacturing, the 9.5 per cent growth in construction and 10.6 per cent growth in the capital formation.

The impressive GDP numbers provide the fundamental support to the bull market. Large caps like RIL, Bharti Airtel, L&T and ICICI Bank have the potential to lead the rally. Tepid private consumption numbers will be a drag on consumer staples stocks like HUL, he said.

The broad trend of the market, going forward, will be the outperformance of large-caps over the broader market, he added.

Devarsh Vakil – Deputy Head, of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said surpassing the expectations of analysts, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a robust growth of 8.4 per cent on an annual basis in the third quarter (October-December), as against 8.1 per cent in the previous quarter, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed Thursday. The number for Q1, Q2 FY24 has also been revised upwards to 8.2 per cent (against 7.8 per cent) and 8.1 per cent (against 7.6 per cent) respectively.

Nifty ended the choppy session higher on February 29. Monthly F&O expiry and MSCI rebalancing volumes resulted in the last 30-minute rise in values and volumes, he said. Over February, Nifty rose 1.18 per cent.

BSE Sensex is trading at 73,260 points up 763 points. Tata Steel, JSW Steel are up 3 per cent.