Extending their southward journey
for fourth straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Monday's trade
in red terrain with frontline gauges declining below their crucial 10,100
(Nifty) and 33,000 (Sensex) levels, as negative global cues on the prospect of
global trade wars and caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's meet on March
20-21, kept denting traders' sentiments. After making a cautious start, markets
never looked confidant and extended their southward journey to end at day's
low. Traders reacted negatively on report that India's October-December current
account deficit sharply widened from a year earlier on higher imports. The
October-December current account deficit widened to 2.0% of gross domestic
product, or $13.5 billion, compared with 1.4%, or $8.0 billion, in the same
period a year ago. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of an informal
World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting to be held in New Delhi on
March 19-20, where Representatives from 50 countries will be participating. The
50 nations will engage in free and frank discussions on global trade to explore
the options for resolving various issues and re-invigorating the WTO. Traders
failed to get any sense of relief with report that overseas investors have pumped
in nearly Rs 6,400 crore in the segment in March so far on expectations of
rebound in corporate earnings and easing of global oil prices. Investors took
note that holding companies of many Indian business houses, corporates
investing in subsidiaries and associates, as well as several large individual
investors will have to cough up more tax after a Supreme Court ruling last
week. The verdict will prevent many companies and investors from treating their
entire outgo of interest on borrowings as ‘expenditure'. Separately, with only
16% of the summary sales returns under GST matching with the final returns, the
revenue department has started to analyze major gaps with a view to check any
possible tax evasion. According to the GST returns data, 34% of businesses paid
Rs 34,400 crore less tax between July-December while filing initial summary
return (GSTR-3B). Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 252.88 points or 0.76% to
32,923.12, while the CNX Nifty was down by 100.90 points or 0.99% to 10,094.25.
The US markets closed lower on
Monday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logging their worst days since
February 8, as concerns about Facebook Inc.'s management of user data sparked a
selloff in technology shares. Facebook's worst drop in nearly four years
follows an outcry over its management of third-party access to users'
information, and weighed on other social-media stocks and the technology
sector, which is the best-performing industry this year. The Federal Reserve
has the attention of markets worldwide with an interest-rate hike expected on
Wednesday following a two-day meeting of the central bank's policy group, the
Federal Open Market Committee. Higher interest rates can make riskier assets
such as stocks less attractive. Investors also have been worrying this month
about a potential global trade war. Concerns about trade friction come as the
Trump administration takes a hawkish stance on trade with China and moves ahead
with tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. Meanwhile, the US Congress, facing
a Friday midnight deadline, toiled on Monday to finish writing a $1.2 trillion
bill to fund the federal government through September 30, as several thorny
issues lingered, including funding President Donald Trump's border wall. A
range of other hot-button initiatives was also slowing the unveiling of
legislation that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had aimed to
make public late on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 335.6 points
or 1.35 percent to 24,610.91, the Nasdaq dropped 137.744 points or 1.84 percent
to 7,344.24, while the S&P 500 was down by 39.09 points or 1.42 percent to
2,712.92.
Crude oil futures edged lower on
Monday tracking steep losses in the stock market, as traders fretted over a
litany of defections and firings from the Trump Administration. However,
tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as concerns over Venezuelan
crude production, helped to limit oil's losses. Prices saw a steep climb Friday
as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom would develop
nuclear weapons if arch-rival Iran did. Meanwhile, Russia said today it is
committed to seeing its pact with OPEC through to completion. They may even
prolong cuts into 2019. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery shed 28
cents or 0.4 percent at $62.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
May Brent crude declined 16 cents or 0.2 percent to settle at $66.05 a barrel
on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Caught
in a downward spiral for the third straight session, Indian rupee ended
considerably weaker against the US dollar on Monday, on increased selling of
the US currency by exporters and banks. Sentiments remained dampened with
report that India's October-December current account deficit sharply widened
from a year earlier on higher imports. The October-December current account
deficit widened to 2.0 percent of gross domestic product, or $13.5 billion,
compared with 1.4 percent, or $8.0 billion, in the same period a year ago. The
fall in the rupee was also triggered by dollar's strength against major global
currencies overseas along with extremely bearish local equity markets. On the
global front, the dollar edged higher against a basket of rivals on Monday
after posting four consecutive weeks of gains as financial markets braced for
the first rate hike of the year from the US Federal Reserve. Finally, the rupee
ended at 65.17, 23 paise weaker from its previous close of 64.94 on Friday.
The FIIs as per Monday'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 15233.38 crore against gross
selling of Rs 14182.09 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1991.42 crore with gross sales of Rs 2558.92 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 16.69 crore against gross selling of Rs
1.32 crore.
The US markets closed lower on
Monday on lingering concerns about a potential trade war as well as political
uncertainty following recent developments in Washington. Traders also looked
ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement
on Wednesday. Asian markets were trading in red on Tuesday, as investors stayed
cautious following the overnight pullback on Wall Street and ahead of outcome
of two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting. Indian markets edged lower on Monday
after data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed India's October-December
current account deficit widened sharply from a year earlier, driven by higher
imports. Today, the start of the session is likely to be on the negative side
tracking weak global cues. Sentiments will also remain dampen with Bibek
Debroy's statement that India's net exports are not doing well even as the
global economy is on the recovery path. Debroy further highlighted that India
is facing a dilemma from the point of view of pushing exports, as exporters
would like exchange rate to depreciate, however exchange rate might not
depreciate as much as exporters want because of capital inflows. Meanwhile, RBI
in its release said that the country's manufacturing sector witnessed an
improvement in sales growth in the third quarter this fiscal on annual basis,
though net profit has remained subdued due to lack of support from other
income. There will be buzz in telecom related stocks after the Department of
Telecom amended licence norms of service providers to increase the number of
instalments for spectrum payments and radiowaves frequency holding limit to
provide relief to the sector reeling under deep financial stress. Stocks
related to steel sector will be in focus after the government said that 8.22
million tonnes finished steel was exported during April-January of 2017-18.
India had exported 8.24 MT during 2016-17 and 4.08 MT in 2015-16.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10,094.25
|
10038.18
|
10187.43
|
BSE Sensex
|
32,923.12
|
32761.18
|
33180.43
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Indian Oil Corporation
|
196.26
|
177.90
|
174.37
|
183.07
|
SBI
|
181.68
|
247.95
|
244.83
|
252.33
|
ICICI Bank
|
136.02
|
294.55
|
290.53
|
299.28
|
Tata Steel
|
132.14
|
574.95
|
564.57
|
593.62
|
ITC
|
129.26
|
259.15
|
257.57
|
261.47
|
Axis Bank has opened a new representative office in Sharjah on March 18, 2018.
Lupin has received final approval for its Desoximetasone Topical Spray, 0.25%, 30 ml, 50 ml, and 100 ml from the USFDA.
Swiggy has partnered with ICICI Bank to roll out two digital solutions to facilitate transfer of funds for its delivery partners.
IOC and BPCL may buy 26% stake each in gas utility GAIL India, paying the government over Rs 20,000 crore each to become integrated energy firms.