Dalal Street witnessed jubilation
on Monday, with Sensex and Nifty closing above their 37,000 and 11,150,
respectively. The markets made a gap-up opening, as Economic Affairs Secretary
Subhash Chandra Garg expressed confidence that fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per
cent for 2018-19 would be met as shortfall in indirect tax collection would be
compensated by lower expenditure. Adding optimism among traders, Commerce and
Industry minister Suresh Prabhu said that the government has set a target of
attracting $100 billion in foreign direct investments over the next two years.
The minister said the government is conducting a sector analysis for FDI
investments and is preparing suitable policies which will help in bringing
foreign funds. Investors took encouragement with Railways Minister Piyush
Goyal's statement that the government has brought sustainable changes instead
of temporary adjustments. He also said that the government took the fruits of
progress to under-developed parts of the country, further highlighting that the
country has become perhaps the fastest growing economy in the world from a
fragile economy. Bulls held their grip on the markets throughout the session,
as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported that the country's foreign exchange
reserves increased by $2.599 billion in the week to March 1 to reclaim the $400
billion-mark. The forex reserves stood at $401.776 billion in the reporting
week. In the previous week, the reserves had risen by $944.7 million to
$399.217 billion. Some support also came with a report that the central
government so far transferred Rs 5,215 crore to over 2.6 crore small and
marginal farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme announced in the last month's
interim budget. The market participants paid no heed towards the latest data
report on public debt which showed that total liabilities of the government
increased to Rs 83.40 lakh crore at the end of the December 2018 quarter from
Rs 82.03 lakh crore in the previous quarter of the current fiscal. Finally, the
BSE Sensex gained 382.67 points or 1.04% to 37,054.10, while the CNX Nifty was
up by 132.65 points or 1.20% to 11,168.05.
Snapping their five-day losing
streak, the US markets ended higher on Monday following the release of a report
from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected uptick in US retail sales in
January. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.2% in January
after tumbling by a revised 1.6% in December. The rebound in retail sales came
despite a substantial decrease in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers,
which nosedived by 2.4% in December after rising by 0.3% in December. Excluding
the steep drop in auto sales, retail sales climbed by 0.9% in January after
plummeting by a revised 2.1% in December. Ex-auto sales had been expected to
increase by 0.3% compared to the 1.8% plunge originally reported for the
previous month. The stronger than expected ex-auto sales growth reflected sharp
increases in sales by sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, and book
stores and building materials and supplies dealers. Meanwhile, business
inventories in the US increased in line with Street estimates in the month of
December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The report
said business inventories climbed by 0.6% in December, while revised data
showed inventories were unchanged in November. Street had expected inventories
to increase by 0.6% compared to the 0.1% uptick originally reported for the
previous month. Wholesale and retail inventories jumped by 1.1% and 0.9%,
respectively, while manufacturing inventories were unchanged. Besides,
sentiment also got boost as technology shares rallied, offsetting some of the
gloom from Boeing Company's woes after the second deadly crash in about six
months involving the company's 737 Max 8 aircraft. Dow Jones Industrial Average
surged 200.64 points or 0.79 percent to 25650.88, S&P 500 rose 40.23 points
or 1.47 percent to 2783.30 and Nasdaq was up by 149.92 points or 2.02 percent
to 7558.06.
Crude oil futures ended higher
with gains of over one percent on Monday on reports that Saudi Arabia planned
to extend efforts to reduce crude exports. Saudi Arabia planned to cut its oil
exports to below 7 million barrels a day, while keeping its output well below
10 million barrels a day, in an attempt to alleviate a glut of supply. Besides,
the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) which monitors compliance
with output reductions is scheduled to meet in Azerbaijan on March 18.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC's) next scheduled
meeting will be held on April 17-18. Reports also say the group will again meet
in late June to discuss production levels. Benchmark crude oil futures for
April surged 72 cents or 1.3 percent to settle at $56.79 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude gained 84 cents or 1.3 percent to settle
at $66.58 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended stronger against dollar on Monday, due to increased selling of the
American currency by exporters and banks. Local investors cheered the Economic
Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg expressed confidence that fiscal deficit
target of 3.4 per cent for 2018-19 would be met as shortfall in indirect tax
collection would be compensated by lower expenditure. Traders also remained
optimistic with Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu's statement that
the government has set a target of attracting $100 billion in foreign direct
investments over the next two years. The minister said the government is
conducting a sector analysis for FDI investments and is preparing suitable
policies which will help in bringing foreign funds. Also, fresh capital inflows
and an encouraging rally in domestic equities revived forex market sentiment.
On the global front, dollar edged up on Monday, as investors took cover in the
currency amid global growth concerns, while sterling extended its decline on an
uncertain outlook over Britain's exit from the European Union. Finally, the
rupee ended at 69.89, 25 paise stronger from its previous close of 70.14 on
Friday.
The FIIs as per Monday's data
were net buyers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 5172.97 crore against gross selling of Rs 4046.61 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 4913.99 crore with gross
sales of Rs 830.68 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 0.83 crore against gross selling of Rs 0.37 crore.
The US markets settled higher on
Monday as the technology shares led a broad-based rebound, offsetting some of
the gloom from Boeing Company's woes after a deadly airline crash in Ethiopia.
Asian markets are trading in green on Tuesday after the European Commission
agreed to changes in a Brexit deal ahead of a vote in the British parliament on
a divorce agreement. Indian markets ended higher on Monday with gains of over a
percent each and posted their biggest gain in nearly six months, amid sustained
foreign fund inflow coupled with buying across-the-board, barring IT counter.
Today, the markets are likely to make gap-up opening following firm trade in
global markets. Investors will be looking ahead to macroeconomic data such as
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be
announced after the market hours. Some support may come with a report that in a
major overhaul of oil and gas exploration permits, the government will not
charge any share of profit on hydrocarbons produced from less explored areas as
it looks to attract the elusive private and foreign investment to raise
domestic output. Traders may take note of report that the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) board, which included the present Governor Shaktikanta Das as a director,
had warned of short-term negative impact of demonetisation on the country's
economic growth and observed that the unprecedented move will not have any
material impact on tackling the black money menace. Meanwhile, the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) Council is scheduled to meet on March 19 to finalise
guidelines to support the changed tax rate structure for underconstruction
houses. Besides, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched weekly options
on the NIFTY IT Index. The NIFTY IT index options are already available for
three monthly expiration cycle. There will be some buzz in the banking sector
stocks with Care Ratings' report that the average liquidity deficit of Indian
banking system for the week-ended March 8 moderated to a four-week low at Rs
30,664 crore. It added that the easing of liquidity deficit can be attributed
to an increase in foreign inflows in domestic markets and OMO purchases of
government securities by RBI. There will be some reaction in solar energy
sector related stocks with Crisil Research's report that India's target of
adding 100 GW of solar project capacity by 2022 is facing headwinds as lack of
clarity on policy, frequent bid cancellation and safeguard measures have
negatively impacted the sector. Also, there will be reaction in housing finance
company's stocks with global rating agency Moody's report that the National
Housing Bank's proposed guidelines to tighten the capital adequacy and leverage
norms is credit positive for housing finance company (HFCs) but will not
address their issues regarding the key credit risk, funding and liquidity.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,168.05
|
11,091.63
|
11,212.68
|
BSE Sensex
|
37,054.10
|
36,818.26
|
37,198.06
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata Motors
|
256.70
|
181.85
|
180.40
|
183.95
|
NTPC
|
250.06
|
151.40
|
147.17
|
157.97
|
SBI
|
229.31
|
287.35
|
284.23
|
289.73
|
Yes Bank
|
211.90
|
236.30
|
232.60
|
239.00
|
Coal India
|
199.31
|
243.40
|
237.43
|
247.18
|
Cipla's wholly owned subsidiary -- Goldencross Pharma has completed the closing of Wellthy Therapeutics, transaction representing an acquisition of 11.71% stake in Wellthy on fully diluted basis.
Tata Steel has inaugurated the newly built High Performance Centre at the JRD Sports Complex.
Tata Motors has strengthened its Mobile Service Vans program to improve after-sales relations with its customers.
TCS has launched a new version of the Metadata Registry and Transformation Platform.