Indian equity benchmarks ended
Wednesday's trading session near their intraday high points. The start of day
was positive, with the finance ministry expecting economic growth to accelerate
to 7.5% in 2019-20 from 7.2% projected for the current fiscal. Domestic
sentiments also got cheer, after the UN Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) latest report said that India is among the several countries that
stand to benefit from the ongoing trade tensions between the world's top two
economies - the US and China. As per the report, US and China's tariffs will
divert trade to other countries, with this India is likely to see rise of 3.5%
in exports, while the European Union will be the biggest winner. Adding some
optimism among traders, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan said that India has emerged
as a bright spot in the global economy in the recent years. He also added that
with strong economy and supportive policy environment, the Government remains
committed to inclusive, holistic and sustainable high economic growth. Rally
continued on the street in the second half of the session, amid report that
Commerce Ministry met Export Promotion Councils to discuss various issues being
faced by exporters and examine ways by which India's merchandise exports may
reach $ 325 billion by March 2019. Positivity remained among the investors with
a report stating that the income tax e-returns filed for the April-January
period has grown by over 37 percent compared with the corresponding period in
FY18. While over 6.3 crore taxpayers filed returns in the first ten months of
the fiscal, the government is expecting 7.6 crore returns to be filed by the
end of FY19 compared with 6.9 crore in FY18. Traders overlooked the
International Monetary Fund's (IMF) statement that greater efforts will be
needed to reduce the fiscal deficit as the interim budget envisages a slower
pace of fiscal consolidation than previously planned. The market participants
also paid no heed towards a private report stating that the Indian rupee is set
to underperform against the dollar again this year, weighed down by uncertainty
ahead of a national election in May, but is unlikely to retest life-time lows.
Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 358.42 points or 0.98% to 36,975.23, while the
CNX Nifty was up by 128.10 points or 1.17% to 11,062.45.
After gaining in last few
session, the US markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday on account of
profit booking. Further, some
cautiousness also prevailed in the markets after President Donald Trump's State
of the Union address offered few details on his economic agenda. However, the
president insisted China commit to real, structural economic reforms before a
trade deal can be reached. In his speech to the nation, Trump said he had great
respect for Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding that the two leaders are
working on a new trade deal, while insisting that any agreement include real,
structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade
deficit and protect American jobs. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
said that he and US trade representative Robert Lighthizer would travel to
Beijing next week to continue negotiations over the continuing trade dispute,
as the administration-imposed March 1 deadline for a deal approaches, after
which the president has threatened to expand tariffs on Chinese imports. On the
economic front, a government shutdown-delayed report released by the Commerce
Department showed the US trade deficit narrowed by much more than anticipated
in the month of November. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit
narrowed to $49.3 billion in November from a revised $55.7 billion in October. The
much narrower than expected deficit largely reflected a steep drop in the value
of imports, which plunged by 2.9 percent to $259.2 billion in November after
rising by 0.4 percent to $266.9 billion in October. The report said the value
of exports also fell by 0.6 percent to $209.9 billion in November after edging
down by 0.1 percent to $211.2 billion in October. Notable decreases in exports
of industrial supplies and materials, gem diamonds, and drugs were partly
offset by a jump in exports of civilian aircraft. Dow Jones Industrial Average
declined 21.22 points or 0.08 percent to 25390.30, S&P 500 dropped 6.09
points or 0.22 percent to 2731.61 and Nasdaq was down by 26.80 points or 0.36
percent to 7375.28.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Wednesday after weekly US government data revealed smaller-than-expected
increases in domestic crude and gasoline supplies. The Energy Information
Administration (EIA) reported that domestic crude supplies rose by 1.3 million
barrels for the week ended February 1. That was smaller than the 3.7
million-barrel rise expected by S&P Global Platts. American Petroleum
Institute data showed an increase of 2.5 million barrels. According to report, gasoline
stockpiles edged up by 500,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles
were down 2.3 million barrels. However, concerns surrounding a potential
slowdown in global energy demand limited the gain for prices. Benchmark crude
oil futures for March gained 35 cents or 0.7 percent to settle $54.01 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude rose 71 cents or 1.2
percent to settle at $62.69 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Wednesday, as bankers and
exporters took to selling of American currency. Market participants took some
support with the finance ministry expecting economic growth to accelerate to
7.5% in 2019-20 from 7.2% projected for the current fiscal. However, local unit
cut most of the early gains, as anxiety remained among the traders with a
private report stating that the Indian rupee is set to underperform against the
dollar again this year, weighed down by uncertainty ahead of a national
election in May, but is unlikely to retest life-time lows. On the global front,
dollar settled near a two-week high versus its rivals on Wednesday as US
President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech failed to surprise currency
traders with markets more focused on the near-term outlook for monetary policy.
Finally, the rupee ended at 71.56, 1 paise stronger from its previous close of
71.57 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net buyers in equity segment, while they were net sellers in debt segment.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3358.23 crore against gross
selling of Rs 2643.48 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 44.63 crore with gross sales of Rs 907.62 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross selling was of Rs 1.78 crore against no buying.
The US markets ended lower on
Wednesday as investors weighed corporate earnings against persistent concerns
over trade and another government shutdown. Asian markets were trading mostly
in green on Thursday as regional investors began to return from their Lunar New
Year break, though Tokyo edged lower after a negative lead from Wall Street.
Extending gains for fifth straight session, Indian markets ended near intraday
high levels on Wednesday, as investors' sentiment was buoyed by a slew of
upbeat quarterly results. Today, the markets are likely to make a cautious
start ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision amid
mixed global cues. The RBI is likely change its monetary policy stance to
neutral from calibrated tightening at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting
outcome. However, traders may take some support later in the day with Moody's
Investors Service's statement that the direct cash transfer programme for
farmers and tax relief steps for the middle-class will give a fiscal stimulus
of about 0.45 percent of GDP, and support growth through increased consumption,
though at a fiscal cost. Some support may also come with a report that the
government has allowed export of bio-fuels from special economic zones (SEZs)
and export-oriented units (EoUs) with certain conditions, according to a notice
of the directorate general of foreign trade. In August 2018, the government
imposed restrictions on export of bio-fuels for non-fuel purposes. Besides, the
government has decided to raise additional Rs 36,000 crore through dated securities
to fund its expenses during the current financial year. Meanwhile, the union
cabinet approved a Bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all
financial services in international financial services centers (IFSCs) in the
country. There will be some buzz in the power sector stocks with report that
the government gave its nod to a proposal for setting up 12,000 MW
grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) power projects with an estimated
viability gap funding of Rs 8,580 crore. Also, there will be some reaction in
broadcasting sector stocks with report that rubbishing claims that the new
broadcast tariff regime would increase bill amounts of cable TV and DTH
subscribers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said the new
framework may actually decrease TV bills. There will be some important earnings
announcements too to keep the markets buzzing.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,062.45
|
10,992.57
|
11,102.47
|
BSE Sensex
|
36,975.23
|
36,768.99
|
37,093.36
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
453.91
|
176.45
|
173.32
|
179.27
|
ZEEL
|
251.13
|
388.00
|
370.67
|
401.67
|
ICICI Bank
|
153.96
|
359.30
|
354.37
|
363.07
|
Tech Mahindra
|
148.61
|
811.35
|
785.40
|
825.90
|
Vedanta
|
131.41
|
163.75
|
159.33
|
166.58
|
HCL Technologies has partnered with Harris Geospatial Solutions Inc. to provide an Al driven, remote sensing data analytics system for its utilities customers.
NTPC has inked an agreement with HDFC Bank for Rs 2,500 crore loan to part finance capital expenditure.
Maruti Suzuki India has reported 15.60% rise in its production to 183,064 vehicles in January 2019, as compared to 158,396 vehicles in January 2018.
HPCL has reported a fall of 87.30% in its net profit at Rs 247.55 crore for Q3FY19 as compared to Rs 1,949.69 crore for Q3FY18.