Indian equity
benchmarks ended the Wednesday's trade slightly in green, extending their
winning streak for fifth straight day. Markets started the session on cautious
note and entered into red terrain in first half of the trade, as traders
remained cautious ahead of quarterly earnings this week, with IT major Infosys
likely to declare its March quarter results on April 13. Traders also remained
watchful ahead of industrial output figures for February and retail inflation
data for March slated to be released on April 12. Sentiments also remained down
beat on foreign brokerage report that the trend of earnings downgrade for
Indian equities that began three years ago is not showing signs of abating
despite growth in the three quarters to December 2017. The report highlighted
that the consensus estimate for the earnings per share (EPS) of the MSCI India
index for 2018 is lowered by 10.3% since December 2016. On the other hand, the
EPS estimate of the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index has increased by 13.6%. However,
bourses pared all of their losses and entered into green terrain in last leg of
trade to end with marginal gains as traders took some encouragement with Asian
Development Bank's report that India is expected to bounce back to 7.3% in
fiscal 2018 and firm to 7.6% in 2019 as the new tax regime improves
productivity and as banking reform and corporate deleveraging take hold to
reverse a downtrend in investment. Some support also came with World Economic
Forum's (WEF) statement that India can play a pivotal role in shaping the
global fourth Industrial revolution as over half of its population is under the
age of 27. The WEF has already partnered with the Indian government to set up
the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution India in Mumbai. Some comfort
also came with the commerce ministry's statement that the government is working
on an action plan to increase the growth rate at the district level by 3-4% per
annum by accelerating economic activities. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 60.19
points or 0.18% to 33,940.44, while the CNX Nifty was up by 14.90 points or
0.14% to 10,417.15.
The US markets
closed lower on Wednesday, as investors assessed rising geopolitical tensions.
Major indexes came under pressure in early trade after tweets from President
Donald Trump suggested he was preparing for a military strike in Syria and
underlined a tense relationship with Russia. China's commerce ministry said
that the country is well prepared and will not hesitate to fight back if the
United States escalates its trade spat with Beijing, adding Chinese President
Xi Jinping's pledge to cut import tariffs is not a concession. On the economy
front, the federal government's budget deficit was $209 billion in March, up
18% from the same month a year ago. Receipts were $211 billion, down 3%, and
spending rose 7% to $420 billion. The new tax law continues to widen the
deficit, with withholding of individual income and payroll taxes off by 2% in
March. In January, the IRS issued new withholding tables based on the law
enacted by President Donald Trump in December. Meanwhile, the consumer price
index fell slightly in March to mark the first drop in 10 months, but the
decline was entirely due to the lower cost of gasoline. Americans paid more for
almost everything else as inflation continues to creep higher. The CPI dipped
0.1% last month. Yet the rate of inflation over the past 12 months rose to 2.4%
from 2.2% and hit a one-year high. After stripping out gas and food, the more
closely followed core rate of inflation advanced 0.2% in March. And the
12-month rate of core inflation jumped to 2.1% from 1.8%, the highest level in
more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 218.55 points or 0.90
percent to 24,189.45, the Nasdaq dropped 25.275 points or 0.36 percent to
7,069.03, while the S&P 500 was down by 14.68 points or 0.55 percent to
2,642.19.
Extending
northward journey for seventh straight session, Crude oil futures edged higher
on Wednesday, hitting 3-year highs, as rising tensions in the Middle East
continued to feed concerns over potential supply disruptions in the region.
Fears that the supply of crude could be interrupted as a result of an
international strike is the main reason behind the oil price rally. Markets
shrugged off reports that Crude inventories rose by 3.3 million barrels (bbl) in
the week ended April 6, compared with street's expectations for a decrease of
189,000 bbl. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery gained $1.31 or 2
percent to settle at $66.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June
Brent crude jumped $1.02 or 1.4 percent to settle at $72.06 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended considerably weaker against the US dollar on Wednesday, on the back
of consistent demand for the greenback from state-run banks and importers.
Traders shrugged off a report highlighting that RBI projected Consumer Price
Index (CPI) based inflation to follow a downward trend and remain in the
4.7%-5.1% band. Having lowered inflation expectations, the RBI has raised its
GDP growth projections by 80 bps to 7.4% from 6.6%. Investors even overlooked
Asian Development Bank's report that India is expected to bounce back to 7.3%
in fiscal 2018 and firm to 7.6% in 2019 as the new tax regime improves
productivity and as banking reform and corporate deleveraging take hold to
reverse a downtrend in investment. Besides, dollar weakened against some
currencies overseas failed to cast any impact on the rupee. On the global
front, US dollar slipped against its most major counterparts on Wednesday, as
investors awaited US inflation data and the minutes from the latest Fed meeting
for more clues about policy outlook. Finally, the rupee ended at 65.31, 32
paise weaker from its previous close of 64.99 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were
net sellers in equity and debt segments both, in the equity segment, the gross buying
was of Rs 4205.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 4922.40 crore, while in debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2346.29 crore with gross sales of Rs 2610.90
crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 0.77 crore against
no selling.
The U.S. stocks
edged lower on Wednesday amid geopolitical concerns after President Donald
Trump warned Russia get ready for missiles being launched at Syria. On the U.S.
economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest
decrease in consumer prices in the month of March. Asian stocks are trading
sideways on Thursday, as investor confidence seen earlier in the week wavered
overnight amid geopolitical tensions. Indian equity markets eked out modest
gains on Wednesday despite rising oil prices and mounting tensions in the
Middle East. Today, the markets are likely to make negative start tracking weak
global cues amid geopolitical tensions. Investors will remain on sidelines
ahead of macroeconomic readings on inflation and industrial output due today
and Infosys' quarterly earnings scheduled to be released on Friday for clues
about near-term direction of markets. Traders may get some support with report
that India has jumped 13 places in the last one year to be earn 130th spot in
the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom released by a top American
think-tank. In 2017, India with a score of 52.6 points was ranked at 143 among
180 countries, two spots below neighbour Pakistan. Some support may also come
with report that FDI inflows have increased by 34% to an average of $10.2
billion quarterly since the NDA-government assumed power in 2014. The report
notes that FDI inflows in India have nearly doubled to $42 billion in FY17.
There will be buzz in banking stocks after the Reserve Bank has ruled out any
relaxation in bad loan rules, saying the tough norms will discipline borrowers
and prevent banks from pushing distressed loans under the carpet
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous
close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
10,417.15
|
10,372.45
|
10,445.00
|
BSE
Sensex
|
33,940.44
|
33,800.27
|
34,031.07
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous
close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance
(Rs)
|
(in
Lacs)
|
Indian
Oil
|
283.52
|
167.35
|
162.83
|
174.68
|
Vedanta
|
227.72
|
296.80
|
290.20
|
300.55
|
Hindalco
|
188.02
|
234.20
|
231.37
|
236.77
|
Bharat
Petroleum
|
184.88
|
417.30
|
404.60
|
440.50
|
ICICI
Bank
|
168.11
|
284.55
|
281.97
|
287.52
|
Tata Steel has entered into a definitive agreement to subscribe to additional 4.19% equity shares of Subamarekha Port on April 09, 2018.
Tech Mahindra has entered into a strategic partnership with Balbix for launching an artificial intelligence-powered threat assessment platform to check cyber security breaches.
Yes Bank has entered into partnership with payment and transaction processing solutions provider, Euronet India.
Maruti Suzuki India's parent company -- Suzuki Motor Corporation has started export of the all-new Swift on April 10, 2018.