Indian equity benchmarks ended
the Wednesday's trade in green terrain with Sensex recapturing its crucial
33,800 level, while Nifty ending just shy of 10,400 mark, as traders opted to
buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks after three days of continuous
drubbing. After making firm start, markets turned choppy as renewed selling by
foreign investors on worries over the Rs 11,300 crore fraud case at Punjab
National Bank (PNB), concerns over the government's fiscal position and chances
of another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve in March may keep
underlying sentiment cautious. However, markets gained traction, as traders
turned optimistic with report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a
five-member expert panel to look into the reasons for high divergence observed
in asset classification and provisioning by banks. Meanwhile, Finance minister
Arun Jaitley has come down heavily on public sector banks for not safeguarding
taxpayers' money spent to keep them afloat. He warned that the government would
explore all options to punish the cheats responsible for bank frauds. Some
support also came with foreign brokerage report that India's medium-term
potential growth is likely to be above 7 percent, backed by policy reforms,
higher investments and stable global growth environment. The report added that
India ranks higher in medium-term growth potential compared to other emerging
markets like Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and China. Buying got accelerated in
last leg of trade with market participants taking some encouragement with
rating agency India Ratings and Research revising the outlook on infrastructure
sector to stable for the next fiscal on signs of improvement in projects. The
agency added that the infrastructure sector is showing signs of stability,
although pockets of stress still linger. Moreover, the outlook for telecom has
been revised to negative-to-stable from negative. The outlooks for thermal
power, oil and gas, power, ports and airports remain unchanged. Finally, the
BSE Sensex surged 141.27 points or 0.42% to 33,844.86, while the CNX Nifty was
up by 37.05 points or 0.36% to 10,397.45.
The US markets closed lower on
Wednesday, ending a tumultuous session firmly lower after minutes from the
Federal Reserve's most recent policy-setting meeting sparked a fresh wave of
volatility, as bond rates clambered higher and the dollar strengthened,
weighing on equities. Minutes of the January 30-31 Federal Open Market
Committee meeting showed that officials saw a stronger economy than at the end
of 2017 and that more rate increases were in the offing. On the economy front,
existing-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.38 million in
January. Sales of previously-owned homes slid 3.2% in January, the second
consecutive monthly decline. Sales were 4.8% lower than a year ago, the
steepest annual decline in more than three years. The median price jumped 5.8%
to $240,500. First-time buyers were responsible for just 29% of all
transactions in the month, a bit lower than in recent months and still well
below their long-time average of 40%. Separately, an index that tracks US
manufacturers rose to a nearly 3 1/2-year high in February and a gauge for
service-oriented companies hit a six-month peak, according to IHS Markit's
flash PMI. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 166.97 points or 0.67 percent
to 24,797.78, Nasdaq was down by 16.08 points or 0.22 percent to 7,218.23, and
S&P 500 dropped 14.93 points or 0.55 percent to 2,701.33.
Snapping five day winning streak,
Crude oil futures inched lower on Wednesday, as traders opted to book profits
ahead of data expected to show rising crude inventories in the United States
and as the dollar strengthened from last week's three-year lows. The U.S. crude
inventories were forecast to have risen for the fourth consecutive week,
increasing 1.8 million barrels last week. Higher oil prices and rising output
should feed increased investment in drilling and production, in turn boosting
shale output more. Benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery declined 11
cents or 0.02 percent at $61.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
However, April Brent crude gained 17 cents or 0.03 percent to settle at $65.42
a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee pared all of its initial losses and ended tad higher against dollar on
Wednesday, owing to dollar sale by exporters and banks. Traders took some
support with foreign brokerage report that India's medium-term potential growth
is likely to be above 7 percent, backed by policy reforms, higher investments
and stable global growth environment. The report added that India ranks higher
in medium-term growth potential compared to other emerging markets like Brazil,
Russia, Indonesia and China. Besides, gains in the domestic equity markets
supported the local unit. However, dollar's strength against major global
currencies overseas restricted further up move. On the global front, dollar
rose to its highest level in a week against a basket of currencies on
Wednesday, as investor focus shifted to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's
last policy meeting. Finally, the rupee ended at 64.77, 2 paise stronger from
its previous close of 64.79 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment,
in equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3077.55 crore against gross
selling of Rs 3805.81 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1295.27 crore with gross sales of Rs 996.01 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 1.51 crore against gross selling of Rs 0.80
crore.
The US markets ended lower on Wednesday
after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's January meeting indicated the
central bank still plans to raise interest rates three times in 2018. The Fed
raised its projection for inflation from anemic levels, saying that core
personal consumption expenditure index would rise notably faster this year from
its 1.5% rate in December. Asian markets were trading mostly in red as
investors worried surging bond yields after the Fed's latest comments on the
economy will test equity valuations. Indian equity markets snapped a three-day
losing streak on Wednesday, as PSU banks bounced back from recent heavy losses
and IT stocks surged on the back of a weaker rupee. Today, the start of the
F&O series expiry session is likely to be slightly in red, tracking weak
global leads. Traders will also remain cautious on report that the country's
investment climate during April-December period of this fiscal looks subdued
with declining figures in announcements of new projects and the number of
projects under execution. The value of investment in new projects during
April-December was Rs 4.43 trillion, less than half of Rs 9.21 trillion in the
comparable period of last fiscal. Sentiments will also remain dampen on report
that minutes from the Reserve Bank of India's meeting this month showed
monetary policy committee members expressing concerns about accelerating
inflation, although that was also tempered by uncertainty about the strength of
an economic recovery. However, traders will get some support later in the
session from report that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the
third quarter of the current fiscal is likely to be in the range of 6.5-7 per
cent and may expand further in following three months. The country's GDP grew
by 6.3 per cent in July-September quarter of the fiscal, up from 5.7 per cent
in the first quarter. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country
grew by a meagre 0.27 per cent to $35.94 billion during the first 9 months of
the current fiscal. The FDI inflows were $35.84 billion during the
April-December period of last fiscal, 2016-17.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10,397.45
|
10,356.00
|
10,432.50
|
BSE Sensex
|
33,844.86
|
33,727.79
|
33,936.65
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
SBI
|
237.14
|
273.30
|
269.10
|
275.80
|
Sun Pharma
|
218.99
|
525.75
|
503.70
|
555.40
|
Yes Bank
|
133.43
|
312.35
|
306.60
|
316.00
|
Vedanta
|
122.82
|
327.60
|
322.00
|
332.10
|
Hindalco Industries
|
119.02
|
240.65
|
236.00
|
248.05
|
Reliance Industries will be investing Rs 60,000 crore over 10 years in Maharashtra in order to create 100,000 jobs.
Lupin launches its Memantine Hydrochloride ER Capsules, 7mg, 14mg, 21mg, and 28mg having received an approval from the USFDA earlier.
Yes Bank has received an approval for raising Rs 3,000 crore via Basel III compliant tier 2 bonds.
ITC is planning to set up an integrated consumer goods manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh.