Indian markets have kicked off
the week on a confident note, with the NSE index moving close to breaching a
key psychological level of 9,000, while Sensex reclaimed 29,000-mark on Monday.
Sentiments got a boost with the GST council moving a step closer towards
implementing the goods and services tax (GST) from 1 July, approving two
crucial supporting legislations of central GST law (CGST) and the integrated
GST (IGST) law for this ambitious tax reform. It will again meet on 16 March to
clear the state GST law (SGST) and the union territory GST law (UTGST). Once
all the bills are passed by the council, the Union government will collectively
take the bills to the Union cabinet for its approval. Some support also came
with the report that foreign investments in the services sector increased 77.6
percent to $7.55 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal, helped
by government steps to improve ease of doing business. However, gains remained
capped on rising geopolitical tensions in East Asia, as North Korea fired four
ballistic missiles early in the day, while a spat between China and South Korea
over missile defence deepened. Meanwhile, Information technology (IT) stocks
came under pressure on Monday, following the developments on H1-B visa front in
the US. The United States announced that from April 3 it would temporarily
suspend the ‘premium processing' of H-1B visas that allowed some companies to
jump the queue as part of its efforts to clear the backlog. Finally, the BSE
Sensex surged 215.74 points or 0.75% to 29048.19, while the CNX Nifty was up by
65.90 points or 0.74% to 8,963.45.
The US markets closed lower on
Monday, amid concerns over growing geopolitical tensions. The downturn for
stocks comes as North Korea tested four ballistic missiles off its east coast
early Monday, Seoul time. President Donald Trump has accused that his
predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped him. Some investors worried that the
accusation could distract Trump from his economic agenda of introducing tax
cuts and simplifying regulations, which have powered a record-setting rally on
Wall Street since the election. The market is still digesting Federal Reserve
Chairwoman Janet Yellen's clearest indication to date that a March rate increase
is a real possibility next week. On the economy front, the factory orders
climbed up by 1.2% in January. The Commerce Department said orders have climbed
for 6 of the last 7 months and rose 0.3% when transportation was excluded.
Industrial machinery orders climbed up by 6.6%, while photographic equipments
orders dropped by 15%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 51.37 points or
0.24 percent to 20,954.34, Nasdaq was down 21.57 points or 0.37 percent to
5,849.18, while S&P 500 dropped 7.81 points or 0.33 percent to 2,375.31.
Crude oil futures once again
turned lower on Monday as the dollar firmed versus major currencies. Traders were also
concerned with an International Energy Agency (IEA) report which said that OPEC
will increase its production capacity as Iran and Iraq ramp up. IEA expects
OPEC will raise output capacity by 1.95 million barrels a day from 2016 to
2022. IEA predicted a sharp increase in shale oil growth and a reduction in
demand for European refined products. It said that U.S. producers will
contribute most of the growth in supplies outside OPEC through to 2022. Benchmark
crude oil futures for May delivery was down by $0.13 or 0.2 percent to $53.20 on
the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for May delivery ended
up by $0.05 at $55.95 on the ICE.
Indian
rupee ended stronger against dollar on Monday, due to increased selling of the
American currency by exporters. Sentiments remained up-beat with Minister of
State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan's statement that India's
gross domestic product (GDP) will achieve 8% growth and continue its momentum
for the next financial year, even after demonetising about 85% of all currency
in circulation last November. Some support also came with the report that
foreign investments in the services sector increased 77.6 percent to $7.55
billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal, helped by government
steps to improve ease of doing business. Besides, good going in the local
equity markets and dollar's weakness overseas against a basket of major
currencies, mainly aided the currency's appreciation. On the global front, Yen
was trading higher in Asian session on risk aversion as North Korea fired four
ballistic missiles into nearby waters. Finally, the rupee ended at 66.71, 10
paise stronger from its previous close of 66.81 on Friday.
The
FIIs as per Monday's data were net buyers in equity and debt segments both. In
equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5308.64 crore against gross selling
of Rs 3880.73 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs
576.41 crore with gross sales of Rs 531.84 crore.
The US markets despite recovering
from the day's low ended modestly in red in the last session. Profit taking
mainly contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, as some traders cashed in on
the recent strength in the markets, although a report showed that new orders
for manufactured goods increased in line with expectations in the month of January.
The Asian markets have made mostly a green start though there is caution
prevailing in the region as investors assessed whether a rally leading up to a
near-certain U.S. interest-rate increase has run its course. The Indian markets
making a strong start of the new week surged in last session to two-year
closing high. Today, the start is likely to be cautious but in green, tailing
the regional cues. Meanwhile, RBI Deputy Governor Viral V Acharya has said that
demonetisation impact on GDP may be seen in the current quarter in some
segments, while the remonetisation exercise should be completed in 2-3 months.
He further said that the impact of the notes ban would only be temporary and
would help in bringing informal sector into the mainstream economy. There will
be some buzz in the oil & gas sector with International Energy Agency (IEA)
stating that India is moving to the centre stage of global energy market and by
the early 2020s it will replace Russia as the world's third largest refiner.
Pharma sector too will be in action on report from ICRA that domestic
pharmaceutical industry is likely to register moderate growth largely owing to
increased regulatory scrutiny as well as consolidation of supply chain in the
US market.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE
(Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
8963.45
|
8929.03
|
8982.83
|
BSE Sensex
|
29048.19
|
28912.81
|
29126.89
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
Hindalco
|
176.01
|
199.55
|
196.50
|
202.45
|
Reliance
|
152.52
|
1305.35
|
1276.40
|
1323.15
|
IDEA
|
135.79
|
109.75
|
107.58
|
111.88
|
ICICI Bank
|
114.23
|
276.75
|
275.05
|
278.90
|
ITC
|
95.59
|
264.10
|
262.08
|
265.58
|
Tata Motors has unveiled its hatchback Tiago with automated manual transmission, priced at Rs 5.39 lakh.
HDFC Bank has unveiled an electronic virtual assistant, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot, for customer services.
Cipla has entered into agreements, through its wholly owned subsidiary Inyanga Trading 386 Proprietary (Inyanga), with the group companies of Ascendis Health, South Africa for divesting its animal health business in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories has acquired 100% stake in Kolkata based, non-banking finance company, Imperial Credit.