Indian equity bourses came back
in green on Thursday with significant gains of over 0.60% each. The start of
the day was on positive note, aided with CRISIL's statement that it expects a
recovery in rural demand in the country from March-April onwards owing to an
increase in farm incomes, good monsoons and improving urban demand. However, in
late morning deals, most of gains got trimmed, amid a private report stating
that rising inflation is expected to keep the Reserve Bank of India from
cutting rates again until late this year, while an expansionary federal budget
due next month attempts to put a floor under rapidly-slowing growth. But,
bourses again gained the traction in the second half of session, as asserting
that Indian economy is well-poised to take off, Union minister Piyush Goyal
said that there is a lot of enthusiasm for making investments in the country.
The Commerce & Industry Minister also said the government will hold
discussions with Britain & European Union on free trade agreements. Adding
more relief, the government decided to introduce several measures to ease the
process, considering the difficulties faced by trade and industry in filing of
returns. As per the Finance Ministry notification, now GST taxpayers can file
their GSTR-3B returns in a staggered manner. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained
271.02 points or 0.66% to 41,386.40, while the CNX Nifty was up by 73.45 points
or 0.61% to 12,180.35.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Thursday after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it is still
too early to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International
Concern. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that make no mistake,
this is an emergency in China. But it has not yet become a global health
emergency. The WHO noted an emergency committee stands ready to be reconvened
to reconsider formally declaring the situation a PHEIC. Tedros said at this
time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but
that doesn't mean it won't happen.
However, lingering concerns about the impact of the Chinese coronavirus
generated early selling pressure on markets after contributing to a sell-off in
the Asia-Pacific markets. Despite efforts to contain the outbreak, deaths from
the new coronavirus have risen to 17, with nearly 600 cases confirmed
worldwide. A steep drop by shares of Travelers (TRV) helped keep the Dow in the
red after the insurance giant reported fourth quarter earnings and revenues
that beat estimates but slightly weaker than expected net premiums written. On
the economic data front, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits showed
a modest increase in the week ended January 18, according to a report released
by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims rose to
211,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of
205,000. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week
moving average fell to 213,250, a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week's
revised average of 216,500. Continuing claims, a reading on the number of
people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also slid by 37,000 to 1.731
million in the week ended January 11.
Magnifying their previous
session's losses, crude oil futures ended lower on Thursday on fears that
economic growth and oil demand may be hit by the spread of the coronavirus
outbreak in China. China has banned travel in and out of Wuhan, where the first
cases of the coronavirus outbreak appeared last month. Singapore confirmed its
first case of the virus on Thursday. However, data released by the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories in the US fell by
405,000 in the week ended January 17. Gasoline inventories were up 1.75 million
barrels, significantly higher than an expected increase of about 1 million
barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by about 1.2 million barrels,
against forecasts for a 3 million barrels increase. Crude oil futures for March
declined $1.15 or 2 percent to settle at $55.59 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. March Brent dropped $1.17 or 1.9 percent to settle at
$62.04 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended weaker against the American currency on Thursday, due to fresh
dollar demand from banks and importers. Traders remain concerned with a private
report that rising inflation is expected to keep the Reserve Bank of India from
cutting rates again until late this year, while an expansionary federal budget
due next month attempts to put a floor under rapidly-slowing growth. However, a
positive trend in the domestic equity market and easing crude oil prices
supported the rupee and restricted the fall. On the global front, Japanese yen
strengthened on Thursday as investors grew more anxious about the spread of a
virus in China, while the euro was calm ahead of the European Central Bank
meeting. Finally, the rupee ended at 71.26, 7 paise weaker from its previous
close of 71.19 on Wednesday.
The
FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segments.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5336.72 crore against gross
selling of Rs 5307.97 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1905.51 crore with gross sales of Rs 978.65 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5.49 crore against gross selling of Rs 4.86
crore.
The US markets ended mostly
higher with marginal gains on Thursday as mixed earnings reports and a
worsening viral outbreak unsettled investors. Asian markets are trading mixed
on Friday after the world's health body called it a little too early to declare
a coronavirus outbreak a global emergency. Indian markets snapped 3-day losing
streak and ended higher on Thursday led by gains in Banking and IT stocks amid
fall in crude oil prices. Today, the start of session is likely to be
flat-to-negative tracking mixed cues from global markets. Traders will be
concerned over a private report stating that government's tax revenue shortfall
for FY20 is estimated to be at around Rs 2 lakh crore. As per the report, the
revenue shortfall from direct tax sources is being pegged at around Rs 1.5 lakh
crore to Rs 1.8 lakh crore, while that from indirect sources is estimated to be
at around Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 60,000 crore. However, some respite may come
later in the day with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's
statement that the Indian economy is well-poised to take off and the government
is committed to ensure economic growth. Traders may take note of report that
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the investment limit for FPIs in
government and corporate bonds to bring in more foreign funds into the market.
Meanwhile, in the fourth special open market operation (OMO) auctions, the RBI
bought Rs 10,000 crore worth of long-term securities and sold Rs 2,950 crore
worth of short-term government bonds. There will be some buzz in the Oil &
Gas stocks as Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that India will see an
investment of over Rs 4 lakh crore in development of gas supply and
distribution infrastructure in the next five years as it chases the target of
more than doubling the share of the environment-friendly fuel in its energy
basket to 15 percent by 2030. Auto stocks will be in focus as Investment
Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) said that demand for two-wheelers
in the domestic market is likely to remain weak in the near-term on the back of
implementation of BS-VI norms and it expects that the new norms will lead to contraction
of volume by 8-10 per cent in FY20. There will be some reaction in Telecom
stocks as the government asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) not
to take any coercive action against telecom companies for non-payment of
adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues until further court orders. There will be
lots of earnings reaction based on the performance of the companies, to keep
markets in action.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
12,180.35
|
12,119.97
|
12,214.87
|
BSE Sensex
|
41,386.40
|
41,185.55
|
41,500.60
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Indian Oil Corporation
|
2,099.29
|
118.35
|
115.30
|
121.15
|
Yes Bank
|
1,787.75
|
40.95
|
39.07
|
42.12
|
Power Grid Corporation
|
1,271.58
|
201.95
|
194.77
|
208.27
|
SBI
|
332.94
|
323.20
|
316.63
|
327.28
|
Tata Motors
|
330.32
|
188.40
|
184.67
|
191.27
|
Bharti Airtel has partnered with money transfer firm Western Union, wherein the former's payments bank customers can receive international remittances into their accounts.
Tata Motors' wholly owned subsidiary -- JLR is planning to cut 500 jobs at Halewood factory in Merseyside to optimise car production.
IOC has signed a MoU with the NPA of Ghana for providing its assistance and technical expertise in the implementation of Ghana's National LPG Promotion Policy.
ICICI Bank is aiming to double its retail loan disbursement in Assam to over Rs 1,200 crore during 2019-20.