Indian equity markets concluded
the week on a daunting note with the benchmark indices suffering nasty
lacerations of over half a percent in Friday's session. The frontline gauges
failed to showcase any kind of resilience through the session and kept drifting
to lower levels, to eventually settle around the psychological 9,200 (Nifty)
and 29,700 (Sensex) levels. Market participants turned skittish after the
United States launched cruise missiles against an air base in Syria, raising
the risk of confrontation with Syrian backers Russia and Iran. Facing his
biggest foreign policy crisis since taking office in January, Trump took the
toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria's six-year-old civil war. On the
domestic front, sentiments were undermined as Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
projected retail inflation to increase to 5% in the second half of the current
fiscal citing risks of El Nino impacting the monsoon and one-off effects of the
Goods and Services Tax. The central bank also said that a prominent risk could
emanate from managing the implementation of the allowances recommended by the
7th Central Pay Commission (CPC). Investors got nervous as rupee surged to
20-month high, by extending gains to as much as 64.15 per dollar, it's highest
since August 2015. A firm rupee adversely affects operating profit margins of
IT firms as the sector derives a lion's share of revenue from exports, while it
also make the country's other major exporters less competitive. Meanwhile,
telecom stocks Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular rose after rival Reliance Jio
Infocomm, a unit of Reliance Industries, withdrew its summer surprise offer to
subscribers. Further, Avenue Supermarts, which runs a chain of retail stores
under the D-Mart brand, rallied after rating agency CRISIL upgraded its ratings
on the bank facilities of the company. Finally, the BSE Sensex decreased 220.73
points or 0.74% to 29706.61, while the CNX Nifty was down by 63.65 points or
0.69% to 9,198.30.
The US markets ended the
lackluster day of trade slightly in red on Friday. Sentiments remained downbeat
following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing much weaker
than expected job growth in March but also an unexpected drop in the
unemployment rate. The non-farm payroll employment climbed 98,000 jobs in March
after surging up by a revised 219,000 jobs in February. The street had expected
an increase of about 180,000 jobs. Despite the weaker than expected job growth,
the unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent in March from 4.7 percent in
February. The unemployment rate had been expected to come in unchanged. With
the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since
hitting 4.4 percent in May of 2007. Moreover, traders were also keeping an eye
on developments overseas after the U.S. launched a missile strike on a Syrian
airbase overnight. Reports said U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched
59 Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting the al-Shayrat airbase in central Syria.
President Donald Trump claimed a suspected chemical weapons attack on a
rebel-held Syrian town earlier this week was launched from the airbase that was
struck. Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was also in focus,
although the summit was largely overshadowed by the attack on Syria. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average declined 6.85 points or 0.03 percent to 20,656.10, the
Nasdaq shed 1.14 points or 0.02 percent to 5,877.81 and S&P 500 was down by
1.95 points or 0.08 percent to 2,355.54.
Crude oil futures continued their
uptrend and ended at their highest level in a month on Friday following news
the U.S. launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase overnight. U.S. warships
in the Mediterranean Sea launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting the
al-Shayrat airbase in central Syria. Though, Syria is not a major oil producer,
the attack raised concerns about a broader conflict in the region that could
affect supplies. Traders even overlooked the weaker than expected job growth
data. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 98,000
jobs in March after surging up by a revised 219,000 jobs in February. Benchmark
crude oil futures for May delivery gained $0.54 or 1.10 percent to $52.24 on
the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for May delivery ended
higher by $0.29 at $55.17 on the ICE.
Extending gains for third
straight session, Indian rupee ended at 20-month high against dollar on Friday,
due to selling of greenback by banks and importers. Some support also came with
Fitch Ratings stating that it continues to rate India as BBB- or 'stable' on
account of strong medium-term growth outlook and favourable external balances
against weak fiscal position and a business environment which is still
difficult. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India dashed hopes for rate cuts in
its monetary policy report. Moreover, rising geopolitical concerns after the
United States launched cruise missiles against an air base in Syria, kept the
American currency under pressure, in turn supporting the rupee. Finally, the
rupee ended at 64.26, 27 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.53 on
Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 5331.32 crore against gross selling of Rs 4890.95 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2185.66 crore with gross
sales of Rs 786.01 crore.
The US markets ended modestly in
red in the last session on reports that employment in the US rose by much less
than anticipated in the month of March. Though, despite the weaker than
expected job growth, the unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent in March from
4.7 percent in February. The Asian markets have made a mixed start with some
indices trading in green led by the Japanese market after yen dropped against
dollar, as investors weighed the impact of the American jobs report and the
path for U.S. monetary policy tightening. The Indian markets suffered severe
setback in the last session with major benchmarks deposing over half a percent,
mainly on jeo-political worries. Today, the start of another truncated but data
heavy week is likely to be mildly in green tailing positive global cues, now
all eyes will be on corporate earnings season, commencing this week, with IT
major Infosys scheduled to announce its January-March 2017 earnings on Thursday.
Traders will be getting some support with CII Business Confidence Index
released during the weekend, which said that India Inc.'s perceptions about the
state of the economy slid in the last quarter of 2016-17, yet industry's
confidence levels about the future have peaked to their highest level in more
than six years. IT sector may get some support with Commerce Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman's statement that the government is holding talks with the US
administration over the H1-B visa issue and also working with the industries.
She said that the government is in close touch with those industries which have
a stake and which need to be assisted during this transitional phase.
Support and Resistance: NSE
(Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
9198.30
|
9174.10
|
9236.50
|
BSE Sensex
|
29706.61
|
29621.33
|
29839.00
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
ICICI Bank
|
172.67
|
277.35
|
274.40
|
281.65
|
Hindalco
|
145.76
|
193.50
|
191.37
|
196.62
|
Coal India
|
118.62
|
283.90
|
280.60
|
286.70
|
SBI
|
107.66
|
289.45
|
286.47
|
293.62
|
ITC
|
91.29
|
272.65
|
270.98
|
274.23
|
- NTPC has commissioned Unit 1 of
660 MW of Solapur Super Thermal Power Project.
- L&T commissioned gas turbines
in open cycle for two large gas-based power projects in Bangladesh in quick
succession during March 2017.
- Tata Motors' subsidiary -- Jaguar
Land Rover has reported record retail sales of 604,009 vehicles in the
financial year ended 31 March 2017.
-
Bharti Airtel has doubled its network size by
installing 1.8 lakh mobile sites in the last two years.