Fabulous recovery staged over the
Dalal Street on Friday's trading session, with Sensex and Nifty ending higher
by around 4%. Earlier in the day, trading on BSE and NSE was halted for 45
minutes after benchmark index Nifty fell 10% at the start of the day. But,
after resumption of trading, Indian markets regained some poise. Traders took
support with the government data report showing that retail inflation dropped
for the first time after six months in February, easing to 6.58% as prices of
vegetables and other kitchen items cooled. Also, India's industrial output grew
2% in January against a contraction of 0.3% in December. Benchmarks entered in
green terrain during afternoon session. Traders got relief, as the market
regulator said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and stock
exchanges have a robust risk management framework in place which automatically
gets triggered in response to movements in the indices. It also said that the
framework tracks movements in BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty as well as individual
stocks both in cash and derivatives market. Besides, the Reserve Bank of
India's (RBI) data showed that India's current account deficit narrowed sharply
to $1.4 billion or 0.2% of GDP in the December quarter. Finally, the BSE Sensex
rose 1325.34 points or 4.04% to 34103.48, while the CNX Nifty was up by 365.05
points or 3.81% to 9955.20.
The US markets ended higher with
booking their biggest daily gains since October 28, 2008 on Friday after
President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus outbreak a national emergency.
The declaration by Trump would free up as much as $50 billion in additional
funding to combat the outbreak and allow officials to waive certain regulations
to accelerate testing and care for coronavirus patients. Trump said that he
expects the US to have 1.4 million coronavirus test kits available within a
week and a total of 5 million kits within the next month. The president said he
is also working with private sector companies to develop drive thru testing
facilities across the country. However, Trump said he does not want everybody
running out and taking the test, saying only people with certain symptoms
should be tested. Besides, adding to the positive sentiment, a coronavirus test
developed by Swiss drug giant Roche has been granted emergency use
authorization by the FDA. The FDA said this is the first commercially
distributed diagnostic test to receive emergency authorization during the
coronavirus outbreak. Roche said it is committed to delivering as many tests as
possible and is going to the limits of its production capacity. The emergency
authorization of the Roche test comes amid rising concerns about the relatively
low levels of coronavirus testing in the US.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Friday amid private reports said that US energy companies are planning to cut
investment and drilling plans helped as well in pushing up prices. However, for
the week, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 23%, while Brent lost 25% -with
both marking their biggest weekly percentage declines, based on the front-month
contracts, since December 2008. A combination of growing fears over the demand
hit from the coronavirus pandemic and Saudi Arabia's launch of a price war
against Russia, that threatens to flood an already-oversupplied market with
more crude, hammered prices for oil this week. President Donald Trump's
decision to impose restrictions on travel to the US from Europe added to
pressure given the hit to jet fuel demand. Crude oil futures for April added 23
cents or 0.7 percent to settle at 31.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. May Brent crude rose 63 cents or 1.9 percent to settle at $33.85 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee staged a smart recovery against dollar on Friday, on persistent selling
of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments turned positive as the
government data showed that retail inflation dropped for the first time after
six months in February, easing to 6.58% as prices of vegetables and other
kitchen items cooled. Also, India's industrial output grew 2% in January
against a contraction of 0.3% in December. Traders also drew some solace with
private report stating that India's central bank is likely to announce
liquidity-boosting measures to help stabilise financial markets which have
fallen sharply due to the coronavirus outbreak. Also, splendid recovery in
local equity markets gave the uptrend some momentum. On the global front,
dollar stood tall on Friday as investors rushed to buy the currency amid
deepening panic over the coronavirus epidemic, while the euro nursed losses
after the European Central Bank underwhelmed investors by not cutting rates.
The last traded price of rupee was 73.91, 37 paise stronger from its previous
close of 74.28 on Thursday.
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 11425.49 crore against gross selling
of Rs 13227.55 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs
855.55 crore with gross sales of Rs 3844.34 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6.13 crore against gross selling of Rs 6.01
crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday after a coronavirus test developed by Swiss drug giant Roche has been
granted emergency use authorization by the FDA. Asian markets are trading in
red in early deals on Monday as the US Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark
interest rate to zero and launched a massive quantitative easing program in an
emergency move on Sunday. Indian markets showed smart recovery, after hitting
lowest level in early deals, and ended the volatile session in green territory
with modest gains on Friday on value buying. Today, the start of new week is
likely to be pessimistic tracking sell-off in the Asian peers amid coronavirus
scare. As per a private report, India on Sunday reported that the number of
coronavirus infections had risen to 107, an increase of 23 from the day before,
with Maharashtra the worst hit. A rise in coronavirus cases is likely to
further hit the market sentiment. There will be some cautiousness with Crisil's
report that credit pressures have intensified on India Inc as the coronavirus
spread deepens in India and across the globe. It warned that Airlines, hotels,
malls, multiplexes and restaurants will be the worst hit businesses. Investors
will be also concerned as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have withdrawn a
whopping Rs 37,976 crore on a net basis from the Indian markets in March so far
amid the coronavirus pandemic triggering fears of a global recession. Traders
will be looking ahead to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data to be out later
in the day. Besides, the government had hiked the excise duty on petrol and
diesel by Rs 3 per litre each to garner about Rs 39,000 crore additional
revenue, as it repeated its 2014-15 act of not passing on gains arising from
slump in international oil prices. Higher fuel prices may bring back fears of
spike in inflation. Though, some respite may come later in the day with the
commerce ministry's data showing that India's exports rose for the first time
in seven months in February growing by 2.91 percent to $27.65 billion. Besides,
imports too grew by 2.48 percent to $37.5 billion, leaving a trade deficit of
$9.85 billion as against $9.72 billion in February 2019. Traders may take note
of report that traders' body CAIT has appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman to direct regulator IRDAI to mandate insurance firms to introduce
coverage for disruptions to businesses on account of the coronavirus outbreak.
There will be buzz in the tractor related companies stocks with a private
report that while the entire auto segment is facing pressure, tractor segment
is seeing a good traction on the backdrop of a robust rabi output and
prevailing crop prices. Also, the increase in rural and agri spending by the
government should augur well for the industry. Meanwhile, SBI Cards and
Payments (SBI Card) is scheduled to debut on the bourses on Monday, March 16.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
9,955.20
|
8,953.77
|
10,558.02
|
BSE Sensex
|
34,103.48
|
30,738.47
|
36,118.98
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
2,766.64
|
25.55
|
22.03
|
28.38
|
SBI
|
1,557.03
|
242.00
|
201.50
|
265.65
|
Tata Motors
|
1,061.53
|
89.75
|
80.48
|
96.58
|
ONGC
|
730.52
|
65.90
|
54.93
|
71.93
|
ICICI Bank
|
671.05
|
447.20
|
406.68
|
476.23
|
Vedanta is aiming to increase total production its Lanjigarh alumina refinery to 1.8 MT in 2019-20, on the back of a significant improvement in operating efficiencies.
Yes Bank will be replaced in the Nifty banking index by Bandhan Bank from March 27.
Tata Steel has raised funds aggregating to Rs 670 crore through allotment of 6,700 Unsecured, Redeemable, Listed, Rated NCDs at face value of Rs 10,00,000 each on private placement basis.
Wipro has signed global strategic partnership with PLEXIS Healthcare Systems to accelerate digital transformation for healthcare payers.