Indian equity
benchmarks ended Wednesday's trading session on a positive note, backed by
strong gains in Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Industrials stocks.
Markets opened gap up and continued to inch higher throughout the day as
traders took encouragement with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stating that
India's current account deficit declined to $10.5 billion or 1.2 per cent of
the GDP in October-December quarter of current fiscal from $11.4 billion in the
previous three months and $16.8 billion a year back. Some optimism also came
with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that various
initiatives from the government and growing investment are going to create more
job opportunities during the decade. Sentiments remained up-beat in afternoon
deals, taking support from Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of
India’s statement that India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to $1.22
billion till February during the 2023-24 fiscal. It said the shipments to the
country stood at $616.68 million in the previous fiscal. Some solace came as
S&P Global Ratings stated that India's financial system regulator, the RBI,
is showing serious commitment to improving governance and transparency in the
sector. The recent measures by the RBI will curtail lenders' over-exuberance,
enhance compliance culture, and safeguard customers, but the drawback will be
higher capital costs for institutions. Traders also took a note of Fitch
Ratings’ report that the profitability of Indian banks is likely to continue to
improve, although net interest margin (NIM) compression will limit earnings
upside over the medium term. It also said banks’ rising funding costs are
likely to remain an important factor driving NIMs, but it is expected that
earnings will be resilient despite the sector’s dependence on net interest
income, which contributed 75 per cent of total operating income in the first
nine months of the financial year ending March 2024. Finally, the BSE Sensex
rose 526.01 points or 0.73% to 72,996.31 and the CNX Nifty was up by 118.95
points or 0.54% to 22,123.65.
The US markets ended higher on
Wednesday as traders once again looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced
levels. A decrease by treasury yields have also contributed to the strength in
the markets amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates
following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week. On the
sectoral front, Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day,
resulting in a 3.7 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. With the
gain, the index reached a nearly three-month closing high. The rally by gold
stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for
June delivery climbing $13.50 to $2,212.70 an ounce. Interest rate-sensitive
utilities and commercial real estate stocks also saw considerable strength,
driving the Dow Jones Utility Average and the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index
up by 2.7 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Airline, banking and steel
stocks also showed strong moves to the upside as the day progressed, moving
higher along with most of the other major sectors. Besides, traders were eyeing
on economic data such as weekly jobless claims, Chicago business activity and
pending home sales are due on Thursday. A report on personal income and
spending that includes readings on inflation to be preferred by the Federal
Reserve is also due to be released while the markets are closed on Good Friday.
Crude oil futures ended lower on
Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline
inventories in the week ended March 22nd. Data from the Energy Information
Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories jumped by about 3.2 million
barrels last week, after slumping by 2 million barrel a week earlier. Crude
inventories were expected to drop by 1.3 million barrels last week. The EIA
data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels last
week, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 1.2 million barrels. Benchmark
crude oil futures for May delivery fell $0.27 or about 0.33% to settle at $81.35
a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery
dropped by $0.16 or about 0.19% to $86.09 per barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee depreciated against
the dollar on Wednesday tracking a strong American currency against major
rivals overseas and weak Asian peers. Traders overlooked report that Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) said India's current account deficit declined to $10.5
billion or 1.2 per cent of the GDP in October-December quarter of current
fiscal from $11.4 billion in the previous three months and $16.8 billion a year
back. Meanwhile, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India stated
that India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to $1.22 billion till
February during the 2023-24 fiscal. It said the shipments to the country stood
at $616.68 million in the previous fiscal. On the global front, yen dropped to
its lowest level on Wednesday before rebounding slightly after Japan's top
monetary officials met to discuss the rapidly weakening currency and suggested
they were ready to intervene. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.33 (Provisional),
weaker by 4 paise from its previous close of 83.29 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net sellers in equity segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of
Rs 20870.39 crore against gross selling of Rs 24040.98 crore, while in the debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 3609.56 crore with gross sales of Rs
1127.31 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs
582.90 crore against gross selling of Rs 17.91 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Wednesday as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels. Asian
markets are trading mixed in early deals on Thursday despite positive cues from
the US markets overnight. Indian equity markets ended higher on Wednesday on
account of hectic buying in Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance,
Titan Company and Kotak Mahindra Bank companies’ stocks. Today, markets are
likely to make positive start on firm cues from the US markets overnight.
Traders may get some support as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said
the government will continue the push on its reforms agenda in its third term
since political continuity, along with a predictable and stable economic
environment and taxation structure, is important to achieve the laid-down
developmental goals. Meanwhile, India should be satisfied with the current
growth rate unless the external environment improves, Member of Economic
Advisory Council to the PM, Sanjeev Sanyal, said, terming economic expansion in
the range of 7 per cent perfectly good. Traders may take note with Chairman of
the 16th Finance Commission Arvind Panagariya’s statement that India can
realistically push its economic growth close to 9 per cent from the current 7
per cent or so, by implementing a few more reforms in the next five years.
There may be some buzz in banking and NBFCs industries related stocks on report
that in a relief to banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the norms it announced on investments in
Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in December last year. In a circular issued,
the RBI said that its regulated entities (REs) will now be required to make
provisioning only to the extent of the amount invested by the AIF scheme in the
debtor company and not the entire investment.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
22,123.65
|
22,053.14
|
22,193.89
|
BSE
Sensex
|
72,996.31
|
72,685.11
|
73,223.11
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
NTPC
|
425.09
|
329.80
|
326.04
|
333.84
|
Tata
Steel
|
352.28
|
152.60
|
151.70
|
153.80
|
HDFC
Bank
|
310.84
|
1443.65
|
1,427.29
|
1,453.99
|
SBI
|
300.88
|
736.50
|
729.19
|
744.84
|
ONGC
|
285.63
|
265.30
|
260.56
|
269.11
|
- Tata Steel has raised Rs 2,700
crore through allotment of 2,70,000 - 7.79% Fixed rate, Unsecured, Redeemable,
Rated, Listed, NCDs having face value Rs 1,00,000 each.
- NTPC has inked a pact with a
Japanese agency for sourcing foreign currency loans of $200 million (JPY 30
billion or around Rs 1,650 crore).
- Wipro’s wholly-owned subsidiary
-- Wipro Holdings (UK) has transferred its entire shareholding in Wipro Gulf
LLC (step-down subsidiary) to Wipro IT Services UK Societas (wholly-owned
subsidiary).
- HCL Technologies has been
selected by Oriola Corporation to accelerate Oriola’s digital transformation
journey and deliver enhanced customer experiences.