Monday's trading session was
clearly of consolidation as the Indian frontline equity indices appeared a bit
fatigued and remained in tight band throughout the day. Nevertheless, the
benchmarks managed to extend the winning momentum for the fourth consecutive
day of trade as local sentiments continued to show signs of improvement.
Traders took some encouragement with the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta
Das' statement that the Union Budget 2016-17 will try to address the key
challenges of the economy and give an impetus to growth. He also added that the
government is committed to not only maintain the 7.6 per cent growth but also
improve it. Higher growth will lead to job creation, more economic activities
and development. Furthermore, some
encouragement also spread by Finance Ministry with the proclamation that the
quality of government expenditure has improved significantly in the current
fiscal and is resulting in high growth. According to CGA data, it was 74.4 per
cent of Budget Estimate at the end of December, as compared to 61.3 per cent a
year ago. However, market participants remained cautious with the report that
overseas investors have pulled out a massive Rs 4,600 crore from the Indian
capital markets this month so far, primarily on account of continuous fall in
crude oil prices and fears of a global slowdown. Meanwhile, all eyes would be
on the Budget session of Parliament that will be commencing on February 23 and
will focus largely on the financial business of the government. The Rail Budget
will be unveiled on Thursday, economic survey on Friday and the Union Budget
next Monday. On the global front, Asian share markets ended mostly higher,
while European shares too rose on Monday. Back home, the benchmark got off to a
soft start as the indices showed signs of consolidation in early trade. But the
frontline indices slowly started gathering steam and surged by around quarter a
percent by late morning trades. But the indices failed to capitalize on the
initial momentum and continued to trade in a tight range for most part of the
day. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 79.64 points or 0.34% to 23788.79, while
the CNX Nifty added 23.80 points or 0.33% to 7,234.55.
The US markets closed higher on
Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping more than 200 points,
carried by a 6% jump by oil futures. The Chicago Fed released the national
activity index (a composite index of other indicators) showed economic growth
picked up in January and the index reading rose to 0.28. Also, the December
2015 reading was revised to -0.34 from -0.22. January's move was led by
improvements in production-related indicators. Two of the four broad categories
of indicators that make up the index increased from December, and two of the
four categories made positive contributions to the index in January. The
index's three-month moving average remained in contraction. Still, it increased
to -0.15 in January from -0.30 in December. On the other hand, a reading of
manufacturing sentiment unexpectedly lost momentum in February. The flash
manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index from Markit fell to 51.0 from 52.4 in
January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 228.67 points or 1.40 percent
to 16,620.66, the Nasdaq was up 66.18 points or 1.47 percent to 4,570.61 while,
the S&P 500 added 27.72 points or 1.45 percent to 1,945.50.
Crude oil futures surged on
Monday after the international energy watchdog Paris-based International Energy
Agency (IEA) predicted that US crude production will continue to slide as
prices hover near record-lows. In its 2016 Medium-Term Oil Market Report, the
IEA said that U.S. light, thick oil (LTO) will fall 600,000 barrels per day
this year, before declining by another 200,000 bpd in 2017, when at which point
the markets will start rebalancing. The IEA said that within the next five
years, the US and Iran are seen leading production gains among non-OPEC
and OPEC countries respectively. Benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery
surged by $1.64 or 5.17 percent to $33.39 a barrel after trading in a range of
$31.70 and $33.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London,
Brent crude for April delivery closed at $34.74, up $1.73 or 5.24 percent on
the ICE.
Indian rupee ended weaker against
dollar on Monday on increased dollar demand from banks and importers. The
domestic currency failed to get solace from the gains in the equity market.
Investors turned cautious ahead of the Budget session of Parliament commencing
on February 23 which will focus largely on the financial business of the
government. Furthermore, investors overlooked that the global rating agency
Moody's pegged India's growth at 7.5% for next two years, saying that it's
insulated from global turmoil. On the global front, yen was weaker against its
rivals during Asian trade, as investors opted to sell the safety of the
Japanese currency amid Tokyo stocks' steady gains. Finally, the rupee ended at
68.61, 15 paise weaker from its previous close of 68.46 on Thursday.
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 6853.64 crore against gross selling
of Rs 6233.74 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 387.85
crore with gross sales of Rs 1120.72 crore.
The US markets ended higher in
last session, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous week, mainly on
a sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Though, some of the traders
remained on sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data on the day. The
Asian markets have made a mixed start with some of the indices trading in red.
Chinese market was down as the yuan declined after the People's Bank of China
lowered its daily reference rate by the most in six weeks. The Indian markets
despite a choppy trade managed to extend the gaining streak in the last session
and the major averages gained over a quarter percent. Today, the start is
likely to be in green tailing the overnight gains in the US markets. However,
traders will be eyeing the stormy start of the budget session of Parliament,
with opposition targeting the government on a range of issues. The government
has prioritised 32 items for the session, which includes 11 bills pending in
Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary
Shaktikanta Das, terming the projected 7.6 percent growth for the current fiscal
as "very, very significant" has expressed the government's commitment
to work towards boosting economic growth. Traders are likely to turn cautious
in latter trade, on report that exports of over half of the sectors, out of the
30 closely monitored by the Commerce Ministry, were in the negative zone in
January due to a fall in global prices and demand. There will be some buzz in the PSU stocks, as
the government is divesting five per cent of its stake in NTPC through the
offer-for-sale route, the sale is expected to garner Rs.5,029 crore at a floor
price of Rs.122 per share.
Support
and Resistance: NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
CNX Nifty
|
7234.55
|
7206.03
|
7257.73
|
BSE Sensex
|
23788.79
|
23690.75
|
23870.93
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
ICICI Bank
|
159.71
|
198.45
|
196.17
|
201.02
|
SBI
|
158.15
|
164.95
|
163.50
|
166.60
|
Vedanta
|
126.24
|
74.10
|
72.72
|
75.42
|
Axis Bank
|
102.85
|
397.15
|
392.55
|
400.25
|
ITC
|
98.03
|
299.85
|
294.62
|
303.87
|
ONGC has received its board's approval for Rs 5,050 crore investment in Tripura for drilling of wells and creation of surface facilities to produce 5.1 mmscmd gas from the state's fields.
Idea Cellular in collaboration with Aditya Birla Nuvo has incorporated a company named Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank.
State-owned miner Coal India has embarked on a project to generate 1,000 megawatts of solar energy to save 30 percent of its power and fuel expenses.
Bharti Airtel has commercially deployed LTE Advanced in Kerala, a technology that enables the operator to provide data speeds of up to 135 MBPS.
Reliance Industries' arm Reliance Jio would be ready to commercially launch its much talked about the 4G telecom services in second half of 2016, offering 80%of Indians high-speed mobile internet & voice services.