Indian equity benchmarks continued their southward journey for the second straight trading session and ended near day's low on Friday, as investors were still on the back foot amid the rising cases of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. After making cautious start, key indices fell deeply in red, as traders were concerned with private survey stating that India's manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace in four months in March and is likely to get worse as demand and output take a hit from the coronavirus outbreak, putting a severe dent in business optimism. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, declined to 51.8 in March from February's 54.5, its lowest since November but still above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction for a 32nd month. Some cautiousness also came as Fitch Solutions stated that India's fiscal deficit in 2020-21 may shoot up to 6.2% of the GDP from 3.5% government estimate as a fallout of the Covid-19 economic stimulus package. Markets continued weak run in late hour of trade, as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that India's economic growth is likely to slow down to 4 per cent this fiscal on the back of the current global health emergency. Adding some pessimism, the Ministry of Finance in its latest data has showed that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in March 2020 slipped below the psychological Rs 1 lakh crore-mark for the first time in four months to Rs 97,597 crore as COVID-19 lockdown that shut most businesses compounded tax collection woes in an already sluggish economy. The street overlooked report that Industry body ASSOCHAM urged the government to roll out a $100-120 billion stimulus package to help revive all sectors of the economy, which has been battered by the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent nationwide lockdown. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 674.36 points or 2.39% to 27,590.95, while the CNX Nifty was down by 170.00 points or 2.06% to 8,083.80.

The US markets ended sharply higher with gains of over seven percent on Monday as the reported death tolls in some of the world's coronavirus hot spots showed signs of easing over the weekend. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in New York State fell to 594 on Sunday from 630 on Saturday, reflecting the first daily decrease. President Donald Trump warned the country could be headed into its toughest week but expressed hope the country was seeing a leveling off of the coronavirus crisis. Reports of decreases in the number of new infections and deaths in European countries like Italy and Spain also generated positive sentiment. Meanwhile, Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index soaring by 11.4 percent. Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 10.4 percent spike by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Financial stocks also saw considerable strength, with the KBW Bank Index and the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index jumping by 9.1 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively. 

Crude oil futures ended lower on Monday, after moving up in the previous two sessions, after a key meeting of major crude producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, was tentatively shifted to Thursday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, will convene later this week in an attempt to forge a truce and stabilize badly beaten-down energy prices after animus between Riyadh and Moscow reared up, causing a delay in a virtual gathering to Thursday from an originally scheduled Monday. Crude oil futures for May fell $2.26 or 8 percent to settle at $26.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June Brent crude dropped $1.06 or 3.1 percent to settle at $33.05 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee witnessed significant fall against the US dollar on Friday, as investors braced for a prolonged period of uncertainty amid coronavirus cases witnessed a sharp rise across the world and in India. Traders remained wary as Fitch Solutions stated that India's fiscal deficit in 2020-21 may shoot up to 6.2% of the GDP from 3.5% government estimate as a fallout of the Covid-19 economic stimulus package. Some cautiousness also came as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that India's economic growth is likely to slow down to 4 per cent this fiscal on the back of the current global health emergency. Strengthening of the American currency in the overseas market also added to the woes of the Indian currency. On the global front, dollar resumed its climb against major currencies on Friday as investors took refuge in safety bids amid worsening economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The last traded price of rupee was 76.13, 53 paise weaker from its previous close of 75.60 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11648.67 crore against gross selling of Rs 15450.28 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 690.75 crore with gross sales of Rs 3514.70 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8.40 crore against gross selling of Rs 23.19 crore.

The US markets ended sharply higher on Monday as investors focused on signs that the rapid spread of COVID-19 may be stabilizing in the New York. Asian markets are trading in green on Tuesday on signs of a slowdown in coronavirus-related deaths. Indian markets before going for long weekend holiday settled lower on Friday, for the second straight session, as coronavirus cases in the country continued to rise despite a complete lockdown to curb the spread of the disease. Markets remain closed on April 06 on account of Mahavir Jayanti. Today, the start of session is likely to be gap-up following rebound in global markets on hopes of pandemic stabilizing coupled with fall in crude oil prices overnight. Traders will be taking encouragement with report that the Finance Ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion. Some support will also come as to ensure adequate liquidity in the system, especially in the corporate bond market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the third targeted long-term repo operation (TLTRO) on April 7 for Rs 25,000 crore. Investors may react to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's suggestion that all ministries must prepare business continuity plans once the lockdown ends. However, the number of confirmed coronavirus (Covid-19) cases reached 4,281-mark on Monday. The death toll has increased to 111, while 318 patients have been discharged or recovered from the highly contagious disease. Traders may be concerned with a private report that India's services sector growth contracted in March after registering the strongest rise in business activity for over seven years in February, as the covid-19 outbreak dented client demand, particularly in overseas markets. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.3 from 57.5 in February. There may be some cautiousness with Fitch Ratings' statement that it has slashed India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to a 30-year low of 2%, from 5.1% projected earlier, as economic recession gripped global economy following the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. Aviation stocks will be in focus with report that domestic air traffic is expected to drop to 80-90 million passengers in the current fiscal and delivery of more than 200 planes to Indian carriers are likely to be deferred by up to two years. There will be some buzz in the banking stocks with S&P Global Ratings' report that banks in the country are likely to witness a spike in their non-performing assets ratio by 1.9% and credit cost ratios by 130 basis point in 2020, following the economic slowdown on account of COVID-19 crisis. There will be some reaction in cement stocks with Crisil's report that cement demand in India is expected to fall sharply by 20-25% in the current fiscal year if the COVID-19 pandemic is not contained by May, and construction activities begin only in the second quarter. 

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Reliance Industries' board has approved the proposal for raising funds through issuance of NCDs up to Rs 25,000 crore in tranches from time to time, on a private placement basis. 
• Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has achieved a throughput of 223 MMT across its nine operating ports in India during the financial year 2019-20. 
• NTPC is all set to start commercial operation of Unit-2 of 660 MW of Khargone Super Thermal Power Station (2 x 660 MW) from April 04, 2020. 
• Bajaj Auto has reported 38 per cent decline in total sales to 2,42,575 units in March as against 3,93,351 in the same month last year.