Indian equity benchmarks ended
the volatile day of trade with slender gains on Thursday. Markets started the
session on an optimistic note with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) statement
that it will inject long-term liquidity worth $5 billion into the system
through foreign exchange swap arrangement with banks for three years, in order
to meet the durable liquidity needs of the system. Some support also came with
report that the private companies in manufacturing sector posted a 24.9% growth
in net profit in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal on annual
basis, benefitting from lower tax provisions. Traders also took some comfort
with report that the RBI has relaxed norms for imports of capital and
non-capital goods by raising the trade credit limit to $150 million under the
automatic route. Providing some support to the markets, ICRA in its report
stated that Small finance banks (SFBS) are likely to grow at 25-30 percent over
the medium-term and if they can arrange additional external capital of Rs
4,000-6,000 crore till FY23. However, markets lost momentum and parted all of
their initial gains to end almost flat with Reserve Bank of India's (RBI)
report that private corporate investment plans have fallen for the seventh year
in a row on account of economic slowdown, poor project appraisals and huge
corporate leveraging. Sentiments also remain dampened with report that India's
annual wholesale price inflation (WPI) in the month of February surged to 2.93
percent, on account of rise in the prices of food and fuel products, after
falling to a 10-month low of 2.76 percent in January. Traders also took a note
of the chairman of RBI Committee on Digital Payments, Nandan Nilekani's
statements that India is still very far away from being a less-cash economy and
security issues around digital payments system needed to be addressed to make
the mode more acceptable. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 2.72 points or 0.01% to
37,754.89, while the CNX Nifty was up by 1.55 points or 0.01% to 11,343.25.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Thursday on renewed concerns about a potential trade deal between the US and
China. A meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi
Jinping will be delayed until at least April indicating that a bilateral trade
deal will not be finalized this month. The report comes after Trump said on
Wednesday that he was in no rush to strike a trade agreement and there remained
the possibility that he could walk away, even as he expressed optimism about
progress in talks. Besides, uncertainty about Brexit also kept traders on the
sidelines, with members of parliament voting in favor of delaying Brexit after
they rejected the idea of leaving the European Union without a deal. On the
economic front, after reporting a notable rebound in new home sales over the
two previous months, the Commerce Department released a report showing a
substantial pullback in US new home sales in the month of January. The Commerce
Department said new home sales plunged by 6.9% to an annual rate of 607,000 in
January from a revised rate of 652,000 in December. Meanwhile, first-time claims
for US unemployment benefits increased by more than expected in the week ended
March 9, according to a report released by the Labor Department. The report
said initial jobless claims rose to 229,000, an increase of 6,000 from the
previous week's unrevised level of 223,000. Besides, a report released by the
Labor Department showed US import and export prices both rose by more than
anticipated in the month of February. The Labor Department said import prices
climbed by 0.6% in February after inching up by a revised 0.1% in January.
Nasdaq dropped 12.49 points or 0.16 percent to 7630.91 and S&P 500 was down
by 2.44 points or 0.09 percent to 2808.48, while Dow Jones Industrial Average
gained 7.05 points or 0.03 percent to 25709.94.
Crude oil futures ended higher
for fourth straight day on Thursday after recent data revealed a weekly decline
in domestic supplies. However, Brent crude ended lower in the wake of a
reported delay in the US-China trade discussions and a slowdown in Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output cuts. A meeting between
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be delayed until at least April.
Meanwhile, OPEC, in a monthly report said that output by its members fell in
February, though at a significantly reduced rate than the month prior and
well-below the group's pledge to the market. Benchmark crude oil futures for
April gained 35 cents or 0.6 percent to settle at $58.61 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. However, May Brent crude lost 32 cents or 0.5 percent
to settle at $67.23 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Consolidating
its strong recovery, Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Thursday, on
persistent selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Investors
sentiment was supported with report that the RBI has relaxed norms for imports
of capital and non-capital goods by raising the trade credit limit to $150
million under the automatic route. Traders overlooked data showing that
Inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 2.93 percent in February over the
previous month due to hardening of prices of primary articles, fuel and power.
On the global front, dollar gained on Thursday as the pound fell after a tense
vote on Brexit that failed to deliver much clarity on where Britain's
relationship with the European Union was headed. Finally, the rupee ended at
69.34, 20 paise stronger from its previous close of 69.54 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday'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 8364.38 crore against gross
selling of Rs 6151.38 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 813.07 crore with gross sales of Rs 2505.65 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 2.90 crore against gross selling of Rs 3.27
crore.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Thursday as investors continued to weigh global trade tensions and concerns
about slowing economic growth. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday as
investors digested new developments on the US-China trade front and reacted to
a vote from lawmakers that could potentially delay the U.K.'s exit from the
European Union. Indian markets ended Thursday's choppy trading session almost
flat amid mixed global peers and spurt in crude oil prices. Today, the markets
are likely to make a positive start following firm trade in Asian peers
tracking improved global sentiment after UK lawmakers voted to delay Brexit.
Traders will be taking encouragement with a private report that the Reserve
Bank of India's (RBI) $5 billion plan to swap rupees for dollars with domestic
banks will help achieve its twin objectives of pushing interest rates down
while also preventing a sharp appreciation in the rupee. Traders may take note
of the RBI's statement that financial sector regulators discussed ways to
address challenges pertaining to the quality of credit ratings and other issues
concerning the economy. It added that the sub-committee reviewed the major
developments on the global and domestic fronts that impinge on the financial stability
of the country. Meanwhile, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has underlined
the need to mobilise funds from all sources especially corporates to achieve
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Kumar further said the focus should
be on conscious capitalism wherein corporates go beyond chasing bottomline and
focus on ensuring maximum social return. Besides, investors will be eyeing
Balance of Trade data to be released later in the day. There will be some buzz
in the banking sector stocks with ICRA's report that after four years of
consecutive losses, the state run banks are likely to report a profit of Rs
23,000-37,000 crore in the next financial year, with their gross non performing
loans declining to 8.1-8.4 percent by March 2020. There will be some reaction
in insurance industry stocks with IRDAI data showing that India's life
insurance industry witnessed a rise of 32.7 per cent in its collective new
premium income at Rs 18,209.50 crore during February 2019. There will be some
buzz in the power sector stocks with report that fresh capacity addition in
thermal power has fallen woefully short of the targets. Only 2129.75 Mw
capacity has been added during April-January of this fiscal, denoting only 44
per cent of the actual capacity of 4850 envisaged for the period.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,343.25
|
11,310.18
|
11,379.88
|
BSE Sensex
|
37,754.89
|
37,663.13
|
37,877.22
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
596.84
|
249.85
|
246.00
|
253.85
|
SBI
|
161.64
|
291.90
|
290.20
|
294.15
|
Tata Motors
|
157.37
|
179.55
|
177.32
|
182.12
|
Coal India
|
136.28
|
243.20
|
239.77
|
245.37
|
ICICI Bank
|
131.82
|
387.90
|
385.47
|
391.67
|
TCS is developing solutions to drive scaled adoption of Blockchain across industries, using technologies from Microsoft and R3, a leading enterprise Blockchain software firm.
Infosys will be opening a new Digital Innovation Center in Bucharest, Romania.
Wipro Gallagher Solutions, a Wipro company, has launched the latest version of its Loan Origination System (LOS), NetOxygen v6.0.
Bharti Airtel's subsidiary -- Indo Teleports has applied to the Telecom Department for in-flight connectivity licence.