In an extremely volatile session,
Indian equity benchmarks traded between green and red terrain throughout the
day and ended flat on Friday, despite strong trend seen in other Asian
markets. Key indices staged a gap up
opening and traded jubilantly, as FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced a coronavirus
relief package for the economically weaker sections of the society. However, markets came off the day's high and
turned volatile in early afternoon session after the RBI announced a cut in its
repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) to 4.4 per cent while reverse repo rate was
reduced by 90 bps to 4 per cent. Apart from this, the central bank cut the cash
reserve ratio (CRR) for the banks by 100 bps to 3 per cent with effect from
March 28 for the next year, which it said will release Rs 1.37 lakh crore in
liquidity. Along with these measures, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said all the
commercial banks were permitted to allow a three-month moratorium on payment of
instalments of all term loans as on March 1, 2020. Sentiments remain muted in
late trade, as RBI Governor admitted that growth projection of 4.7% for the
March quarter and 5% for the whole fiscal was at risk. Some pessimism also came
as Rating agency Crisil cut its growth estimate for India to 3.5 percent for
next financial year (FY21) amid severe dent in the economic activity due to the
coronavirus pandemic. The agency said the estimate of 3.5 percent growth in
2020-21 assumes a normal monsoon and also a subsidising of the pandemic's
economic impact in the June quarter. The slump in growth will be concentrated
in the first half of the next fiscal, while the second half should see a mild
recovery. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 131.18 points or 0.44% to 29,815.59, while
the CNX Nifty was up by 18.80 points or 0.22% to 8,660.25.
The US markets ended deeply in
red on Friday as traders looked to cash in on the strong gains seen in recent
days. Lingering concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus also
weighed on the markets, as the number of confirmed cases in the US surpassed
the number of cases in China or Italy. There have been more than 97,000
confirmed coronavirus cases in the US and nearly 1,500 deaths. Besides, adding
to the negative sentiment, the University of Michigan released a report showing
consumer sentiment deteriorated by much more than initially estimated in the
month of March. The report said the consumer sentiment index for March was
downwardly revised to 89.1 from the preliminary reading of 95.9. The consumer
sentiment index is now down sharply from the final February reading of 101.0,
reflecting the fourth largest one-month decline in nearly a half-century.
However, the Commerce Department released a report showing personal income in
the US increased more than expected in the month of February, while personal
spending rose in line with street estimates. The report said personal income
climbed by 0.6 percent in February, matching the increase seen in January.
Street had expected income to rise by 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, the Commerce
Department said personal spending edged up by 0.2 percent for the second
straight month, matching expectations. Excluding price changes, personal
spending inched up by just 0.1 percent for the third consecutive month.
Extending their previous
session's losses, crude oil futures ended lower on Friday as worries about
energy demand outlook outweighed massive stimulus announced by central banks
and governments to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus spread. Meanwhile,
Saudi Arabia said that the kingdom has not had any contacts with Moscow about
oil production cuts or building out the OPEC+ alliance. Besides, oil prices
have collapsed in March, with the near-lockdown of major economies in response
to the COVID-19 pandemic slashing demand for crude. Month to date, WTI and
Brent prices have each lost roughly 50%. Crude oil futures for May fell $1.09
or 4.8 percent to settle at $21.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. May Brent crude declined $1.41 or 5.4 percent to settle at $24.93 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee rose for the third
straight day against dollar on Friday, amid fresh selling of the American
currency by exporters and banks. Traders took support after the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) announced various measures to support the economy amid the
coronavirus-induced crisis. The RBI cut benchmark interest rate by 75 basis
points to 4.4 percent. The central bank also reduced the cash reserve ratio
(CRR) of all banks by 100 basis points to 3 percent with effect from March 28
for 1 year. Traders paid no heed towards
rating agency Crisil's report that it has cut its growth estimate for India to
3.5 percent for next financial year (FY21) amid severe dent in the economic activity
due to the coronavirus pandemic. On the global front, Euro fell against dollar
on Friday in a sign investors were focusing once more on the spread of the
coronavirus pandemic despite hopes for further stimulus measures to combat its
economic impact. The last traded price of rupee was 74.90, 26 paise stronger
from its previous close of 75.16 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday'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 9480.60 crore against gross
selling of Rs 9469.62 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 621.73 crore with gross sales of Rs 2450.15 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 2.62 crore against gross selling of Rs 4.58
crore.
The US markets ended sharply
lower on Friday as the national shutdown in response to the coronavirus
delivered crushing losses to investors. All Asian markets are trading in red on
Monday as fears mounted that the global shutdown for the novel fast-spreading
coronavirus (COVID-19) could last for months, doing untold harm to economies.
Indian markets gave up early gains and ended mixed on Friday as coronavirus
worries persisted. Today, the markets are likely to get gap-down opening
tracking sell-off in the global markets amid Covid-19 pandemic. Globally, the
total number of reported cases has now risen to over 7.2 lakh with nearly
34,000 deaths. In India, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has
crossed 1,000 mark, with 27 people dead so far. Traders will be concerned with
the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) statement that the world is in the face
of a devastating impact due to the coronavirus pandemic and has clearly entered
a recession, but projected a recovery next year. There will be some
cautiousness with domestic rating agency Icra's statement that India's gross
domestic product (GDP) is likely to contract by 4.5 per cent in the April-June
2020 quarter and will rise by only 2 per cent in 2020-21 on the coronavirus
impact, despite the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) massive actions to spur the
economy. Also, the country's foreign exchange reserves fell by a whopping
$11.98 billion to $469.909 billion in the week to March 20 as the Reserve Bank
continued to supply dollars into the market to stem fall in the rupee.
Investors will be eyeing on the Finance Ministry and RBI meeting to be held on
March 31 to decide on government's borrowing plan for the first half of 2020-21
amid the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. Though, traders may
take note of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in its
post-Covid-19-outbreak stating that even as the Indian economy is likely to be
battered by the Coronavirus pandemic this year, it is still likely to be better
off than all other G20 countries. Meanwhile, a report stated that India is
boosting its overall health infrastructure by initiating measures like
designating dedicated hospitals for affected patients in states, ramping up
procurement of ventilators and mobilising resources of Railways and armed
forces to deal with any eventuality. There will be some buzz in the telecom
stocks with industry body COAI's statement that debt-ridden telecom operators
are likely to opt for three-month moratorium to avoid cash crunch during the
lockdown. Auto stocks will be in focus as the Supreme Court (SC) allowed the
sale of only 10 of the 700,000 unsold BS4 vehicles (7.27 lakh vehicles) beyond
the March 31 deadline. There will be some reaction in power stocks with report
that peak power demand in the country dipped over 26% to 120.31 gigawatts (GW)
on March 26 as compared to 163.72 GW on March 20, showing impact of a
nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
8,660.25
|
8,442.47
|
8,958.47
|
BSE Sensex
|
29,815.59
|
29,066.38
|
30,845.42
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
State Bank of India
|
1,147.47
|
195.95
|
190.00
|
206.90
|
ICICI Bank
|
728.91
|
339.85
|
324.05
|
357.60
|
Axis Bank
|
710.43
|
359.75
|
339.38
|
394.78
|
Tata Motors
|
588.24
|
70.70
|
68.07
|
74.62
|
Indusind Bank
|
438.92
|
411.10
|
356.12
|
502.32
|
NTPC has executed a SPA with the President of India for acquisition of legal and beneficial ownership of equity shares held by the President of India in NEEPCO.
Coal India has relaxed payment terms and directed the railways to defer loading of rakes for non-power buyers due to last-mile connectivity disruption following the nationwide lockdown.
ICICI Bank has invested Rs 51.09 crore in Auxilo Finserve, an associate company of Balrampur Chini Mills, by way of subscription to its 3,40,62,153 Equity Shares.
HDFC Bank has offloaded shares worth Rs 7.63 crore of GHCL.