Indian equity benchmarks ended
highly volatile trade in red terrain with losses of over half percent on
Thursday, with Sensex and Nifty closing below their crucial 31,450 and 9,200
levels, respectively. Markets commenced the session with gap-down opening, as
traders remain concerned with Chief economic adviser KV Subramanian's statement
that India's gross domestic product (GDP) will contract in the first quarter,
but is likely to grow 2% for the full financial year. But, markets soon tried
to cut losses, taking support from Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that
the government is working on a package of structural reforms across sunrise
sectors to convert India into a global manufacturing and exporting hub. Some
support also came as markets regulator Sebi gave certain relaxations to
companies from compliance with procedural norms pertaining to rights issues
opening up to July 31 amid the coronavirus lockdown. But, key indices failed to
hold recovery and resumed selling activity in early noon deals, as anxiety
remained among the traders with coronavirus cases in the country crossed 50,000
in a steady rise despite weeks-long lockdown, which has also hampered the
economic growth of the country. Traders failed to take any senses of relief
from former union minister Suresh Prabhu's statement that focusing on district
level growth in post-COVID period will help creating huge employment
opportunities, contain migration from villages and push India's GDP. He said
that increasing district level growth by additional 3 per cent will help
increase the national GDP. Meanwhile, the government has extended the last date
for filing annual GST return for financial year 2018-19 by three months till
September 2020. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 242.37 points or 0.76% to
31,443.38, while the CNX Nifty was down by 71.85 points or 0.78% to 9,199.05.
The US markets ended higher on
Thursday with a rally in shares of energy and financials powering the day's
moves. A rally in the technology-related Nasdaq helped to drive the index
retrace its coronavirus-induced selloff of the past two months. The strength on
markets came amid continued optimism about the U.S. economy at least partially
reopening in the near future. News that a coronavirus vaccine being developed
by Moderna (MRNA) has been given FDA approval for a phase 2 trial added to the
positive sentiment. The gains came despite a US weekly jobless claims report
showing another 3 million Americans lost their jobs, but investors appeared
relieved that the pace of job losses is ebbing as some states begin to reopen
their economies. First-time claims for US unemployment benefits pulled back
further off their recent record high in the week ended May 2nd, according to a
report released by the Labor Department. The report said initial jobless claims
dropped to 3.169 million, a decrease of 677,000 from the previous week's
revised level of 3.846 million. Street had expected jobless claims to tumble to
3.000 million from the 3.839 million originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, a report released by the Labor Department showed US labor
productivity pulled back by much less than expected in the first quarter. The
Labor Department said labor productivity slumped by 2.5 percent in the first
quarter after jumping by 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Street had
expected productivity to plunge by 5.5 percent.
Crude oil futures ended lower on
Thursday, giving up earlier gains, with downbeat comments from Federal Reserve
officials on economic activity and some doubts over producer compliance with the
OPEC+ output-cut agreement prompting prices to settle lower. Three Federal
Reserve district bank presidents said that they don't expect a quick rebound in
economic activity even as states ease COVID-19 lockdown measures. Besides, US
weekly jobless claims data showed more than 3 million Americans lost
employment. Crude oil futures for June dropped 44 cents or 1.8 percent to
settle at $23.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July Brent crude
fell 26 cents or 0.9 percent to settle at $29.46 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian Money market remained closed on Thursday on account
of Buddha Purnima.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 4813.92 crore against gross selling of Rs 5137.78 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 936.35 crore with gross sales
of Rs 994.56 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs
2.52 crore against gross selling of Rs 3.50 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Thursday amid continued optimism about the US economy at least partially
reopening in the near future. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday
following gains on Wall Street overnight. Indian markets ended lower on
Thursday as coronavirus cases continued to rise in the country, putting
pressure on an already slowing economy. Today, the start of session is likely
to be optimistic tracking gains in global markets. Traders will be getting some
encouragement with Giridhar Aramane, Secretary in the Ministry of Road
Transport and Highways' statement that the government is working on a
comprehensive financial package not only for MSMEs but for all sectors of the
economy. Also, chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian expressed
optimism that the Indian economy will stage a better recovery once the Covid-19
outbreak subsides and it will be a V-shaped recovery. Some support will also
come with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that public sector
banks (PSBs) sanctioned loans worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for more than 41.81 lakh
accounts, during March-April 2020, and added that the economy is poised to
recover. Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct taxes (CBDT) has amended a rule
to settle disputes expeditiously under mutual agreement procedure (MAP), which
is a dispute resolution process under tax treaties. It has also revised form
34F which is used for making application for invoking MAP. Though, there may be
some cautiousness with report that confirmed COVID-19 cases in India stand at
52,952. The death toll from the outbreak in India is at 1,783. Maharashtra,
Gujarat and Delhi have reported the highest number of cases. There will be some
reaction in sugar stocks with the All India Sugar Trade Association's (AISTA)
report that sugar mills have exported 33.49 lakh tonnes of sweetener so far in
the current marketing year ending September, with help from government's
financial assistance. There will be lots of earnings reaction based on the
performance of the companies.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
9,199.05
|
9,157.35
|
9,259.30
|
BSE Sensex
|
31,443.38
|
31,302.42
|
31,644.80
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Hindustan Unilever
|
1,856.70
|
1,992.05
|
1,927.03
|
2,032.03
|
State Bank of India
|
429.44
|
170.75
|
168.85
|
172.60
|
Axis Bank
|
413.39
|
397.35
|
385.95
|
405.50
|
Tata Motors
|
311.61
|
82.50
|
81.52
|
84.07
|
ICICI Bank
|
276.57
|
336.75
|
332.67
|
341.87
|
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and its subsidiaries have received approval for their NDA, Elyxyb (celecoxib oral solution 25 mg/mL) from the USFDA.
Maruti Suzuki India is going to re-start the production of vehicles at its Manesar plant from May 12.
HDFC is planning to raise up to Rs 5,000 crore by issuing bonds on private placement basis to meet its business requirements.
Eicher Motors' motorcycle arm -- Royal Enfield has resumed operations at its manufacturing plants from May 06, 2020.