Indian equity benchmarks made a
recovery to settle off their intraday low points on the last trading day of the
week, with the Sensex and Nifty closing with a loss of around two tenth of a
percent each. The start of the day was sluggish, with the economic research
wing of SBI stating that it is erroneous to come to a conclusion of heightened
economic activity using the jump in currency in circulation (CIC). It estimated
that cash in the economy at Rs 20.4 lakh crore, stressing the rural economy
continues to be depressed. It pointed out to data from leading indicators,
including passenger car sales, commercial vehicle sales and two wheeler sales,
among others, which shows a dip in activity, to point out that the higher CIC
does not suggest a jump in economic activity. The market participants failed to
take any sense of relief with reports that the government has set up an
inter-ministerial committee headed by the finance minister to decide on
exceptions and further inclusions of left-out farmers who fail to meet the
existing eligibility criteria of the PM KISAN scheme. However, in the second
half of the session, key indices managed to trim their losses, supported by
Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian's statement that the economic growth is
expected to accelerate to 7.5% in next financial year (FY20), from 7.2%
projected for the current financial year (FY19). He further stated in the last
four years the GDP growth rate has been 7.3% that was highest across all
government since liberalisation. Some relief also came with a report that
Indian companies raised Rs 4.57 trillion through private placement of corporate
bonds during the first 10 months of the current fiscal to meet business needs.
According to the latest data available with the Securities and Exchange Board
of India (Sebi), firms raked in Rs 4,56,962 crore during the April-January
period of 2018-19 via private placement of corporate bonds, compared with Rs
4,87,764 crore garnered in the corresponding period last fiscal. In the full
financial year 2017-18, companies had raised Rs 6 trillion through the route.
Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 67.27 points or 0.19% to 35,808.95, while the CNX
Nifty was down by 21.65 points or 0.20% to 10724.40.
The US markets ended
significantly higher on Friday amid increasing hopes for a US-China trade deal.
As per the report, officials from both the US and China will continue trade
talks next week in Washington, raising hopes of a near-term deal between the
world's two biggest economies. A statement from the White House said high level
US-China trade talks this week led to progress between the two parties but
noted much work remains. The White House said the US hopes to see additional
progress as discussions at the ministerial and vice-ministerial levels continue
in Washington next week. Investors also took note of report that lawmakers and
President Donald Trump managed to avoid another government shutdown. Trump
still decided to declare a national emergency to obtain additional funds for
his controversial border wall, although the move is not likely to have an
immediate impact as it will face significant legal challenges. On the economic
front, the preliminary data from the University of Michigan showed a bigger
than expected rebound in consumer sentiment in the month of February. The
report said the consumer sentiment index climbed to 95.5 in February after
tumbling to 91.2 in January. Meanwhile, traders overlooked a report from the
Federal Reserve showing an unexpected decrease in industrial production in
January. The Fed said industrial production fell by 0.6% in January after
inching up by a downwardly revised 0.1% in December. The unexpected drop in
industrial production came as manufacturing output slumped by 0.9% in January
after climbing by 0.8% in December. Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 443.86
points or 1.74 percent to 25883.25, Nasdaq jumped 45.46 points or 0.61 percent
to 7472.41 and S&P 500 was up by 29.87 points or 1.09 percent to 2775.60.
Crude oil futures ended sharply
higher on Friday to settle near three-month high boosted by data showing
declines in crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC). Besides, reports that Saudi Arabia's decision to increase the
level of output reduction will significantly tighten crude supply in the market
too added the gains in oil prices. Some support also came in with the partial
closure of Safaniya offshore oil fields in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Baker
Hughes reported that US oil firms increased the number of oil rigs by three
this week, bringing the total rig count to 857. Benchmark crude oil futures for
March climbed $1.18 or 2.2 percent to settle $55.59 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude rose $1.68 or 2.6 percent to settle at
$66.25 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Continuing
its downward slide for the third day in a row, Indian rupee ended weaker
against dollar on Friday, on continued demand for the American unit. Traders
remained concerned with the economic research wing of SBI stating that it is
erroneous to come to a conclusion of heightened economic activity using the
jump in currency in circulation (CIC). It estimated that cash in the economy at
Rs 20.4 lakh crore, stressing the rural economy continues to be depressed.
However, local unit cut most of their losses, as traders found some support
with Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian's statement that the economic
growth is expected to accelerate to 7.5% in next financial year (FY20), from
7.2% projected for the current financial year (FY19). On the global front,
dollar weakened against yen on Friday as dismal US retail sales data reinforced
expectations Federal Reserve rates will not rise this year, while investor
focus shifted to trade talks between Washington and Beijing. Finally, the rupee
ended at 71.23, 7 paise weaker from its previous close of 71.16 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 5268.61 crore against gross selling of Rs 5940.20 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1644.35 crore with gross
sales of Rs 2166.89 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 1.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 0.95 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday as US-China trade talks continued to buoy investor sentiment. Asian
markets are trading in green on Monday as investors dared to hope for both
progress at Sino-US trade talks in Washington this week and more policy
stimulus from major central banks. Extending losing streak for sixth straight
session, Indian markets ended marginally lower on Friday on the back of rising
oil prices and mixed global cues. Today, the start of the new week is likely to
be slightly in green mirroring firm trade in Asian peers. Traders will be
getting encouragement with the Commerce Ministry's data showing that India's
merchandise exports grew 3.74 per cent to $26.36 billion in January from the
same period last year as exports of gems and jewellery, chemicals and
pharmaceuticals increased, coupled with nearly flat level of imports helping in
narrowing the country's trade deficit. Exports in January stood at $26.36
billion as against $25.41 billion in January 2018, while imports grew 0.01 per
cent to $41.09 billion from $41.08 billion in the same period last year. Trade
deficit for January 2019 was at $14.73 billion, down from $15.67 billion a year
ago. Traders may also take note of report that Exporters body FIEO suggested a
series of measures including outright exemption from GST, interest subsidy for
agri-sector, and more funds for MSME players to boost outbound shipments. Some
support may come with report that foreign investors have put in over Rs 5,300
crore into the Indian equity market in the first half of this month, primarily
on account of positive view on the Interim Budget 2019-20. However, there may
be some cautiousness with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (Ficci)
and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) survey stating that Liquidity is
expected to remain constrained till the end of March owing to factors such as
higher demand for money at the end of 2018-19, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
and advance tax outflow. The survey said higher fiscal deficit too will be a
factor in constraining liquidity. It covered areas like current liquidity and
suggestions to improve it and enhance credit growth. There will be some buzz in
the banking sector stocks with a private report that a majority of banks expect
liquidity to remain tight in the last quarter of this fiscal despite a slight
improvement in the situation. There will be some reaction in jewelry sector
stocks with report that the country's gold imports dipped about 5% in value
terms to $26.93 billion during April-January 2018-19, which is expected to keep
a lid on the current account deficit. Also, there will be buzz in the steel
sector stocks with the Joint Plant Committee's (JPC) latest report showing that
the country's exports of finished steel fell 37.3 per cent to 5.15 million
tonnes (MT) in the April-January period of the current financial year. There
will be lots of earnings announcements too, to keep the markets in action.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10,724.40
|
10,634.62
|
10,799.97
|
BSE Sensex
|
35,808.95
|
35,539.09
|
36,050.69
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Yes Bank
|
1,411.93
|
219.00
|
211.23
|
226.83
|
ONGC
|
379.76
|
135.00
|
131.97
|
139.47
|
ITC
|
375.52
|
280.10
|
276.68
|
282.23
|
SBI
|
233.66
|
262.95
|
259.88
|
267.43
|
NTPC
|
215.47
|
136.25
|
133.03
|
138.43
|
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RBL Bank has adopted Finacle Assure, a product of Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys, on Amazon Web Services cloud.