It turned out to be a
roller-coaster ride for the frontline indices, which declined over two percent
in today's session but finished the day with moderate losses of just over half
a percent. After getting a cautious start, Indian benchmark traded below neutral
line for most part of morning tread, but sharp selling was witnessed in mid
afternoon session as investors took to across the board, spooked by Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley's proposals to reintroduce General anti-avoidance rule
(GAAR) from April 2017, allocating Rs 25,000 crore for recapitalization of PSU
banks that is much below Street's estimates and proposal to levy 10% dividend
distribution tax in the hands of investors. However, sharp recovery in late
afternoon trade managed to take the indices into the positive territory but
only for a brief period as fresh bouts of profit booking again brought the
indices to lower levels by the end of trade. Eventually the NSE's 50-share
broadly followed index Nifty, took a cut of over half a percent to settle below
the crucial 7,000 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index,
Sensex slipped by over a hundred and fifty points and closed above the
psychological 23,000 mark. On the global front, Asian market ended mostly in
red on Monday after a weekend meeting of the Group of 20 economic policymakers
ended with no new coordinated action to spur global growth, European stocks too
slipped in early trading. Back home, the broader markets managed to escape
heavy losses and settled on a flat note, yet outperformed their larger peers.
On the BSE sectoral space, the high beta sectors like - IT and Teck pockets
remained among top laggards in the space as they got lacerated by 2.11% and 2%
respectively. Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 152.30 points or 0.66% to
23002, while the CNX Nifty dropped 42.70 points or 0.61% to 6,987.05.
The US markets closed lower on
Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posting three straight
monthly declines for the first time since 2011, while the Dow industrials
bucked the trend to post their first monthly gain since November. The market
sold off in the final two hours of a volatile session, as investors took a
defensive posture, bidding up utility stocks while selling energy and
health-care shares even as crude-oil futures ended sharply higher. On the
economy front, a gauge of Chicago-area economic activity retreated below 50,
indicating a contraction in February after looking strong a month earlier. The
Chicago PMI fell 8 points to 47.6. In January, the index had increased 12.7
points to 55.6, the highest reading in a year. Meanwhile, a gauge of pending
home sales dipped 2.5% in January, the National Association of Realtors
reported. NAR's monthly gauge fell to 106.0 from an upwardly-revised 108.7 in
December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 123.47 points or 0.74 percent
to 16,516.50, the Nasdaq was down 32.52 points or 0.71 percent to 4,557.95
while, the S&P 500 dropped 15.82 points or 0.81 percent to 1,932.23.
Crude oil futures surged on
Monday and managed to close the volatile month of February on a flat note, after
Saudi Arabia said that it would work collaboratively with other major oil
producers to help bring some stability to the struggling oil market. The Saudi
Arabian cabinet said that "The kingdom seeks to achieve stability in the oil
markets and will always remain in contact with all main producers in an attempt
to limit volatility and it welcomes any cooperative action". Benchmark crude
oil futures for April delivery gained $1.02 or 3.11 percent to $ $33.80 a
barrel after trading in a range of $32.34 and $33.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. In London, Brent crude for April delivery closed at $36.64, up $1.20
or 3.39 percent on the ICE.
Indian rupee appreciated for the
second consecutive session on Monday as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that
the government would stick to its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of
gross domestic product for the 2016-17 year. Besides, dollar sales by banks and
exporters also supported the domestic currency. Investors further got some
support with Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian's statement that India
is expected to accelerate to 8-10 percent growth rate in two to five years on
account of structure reforms and encouraging competitive federalism. Investors
even ignored the losses in the local equity market. On the global front, yen
advanced against dollar, after a slump in stocks renewed demand for the
currency as a haven. Finally, the rupee ended at 68.41, 21 paise stronger from
its previous close of 68.62 on Friday.
The FIIs as per Monday's data
were net sellers in equity and in debt segments both. In equity segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 2834.32 crore against gross selling of Rs 3418.63 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 758.76 crore with gross
sales of Rs 2527.97 crore.
The US markets ended lower in
last session, with downbeat economic news renewing fears of a US economic
slowdown. Pending home sales index slumped 2.5 percent to 106.0 in January,
also there was an unexpected contraction in Chicago-area business activity in
the month of February. The Asian markets have made a mixed start and some of
the indices are in red after a gauge of Chinese manufacturing declined,
matching its lowest level of the past seven years that weighed on crude oil and
copper. Japanese market too was down on strength in yen. The Indian markets
after witnessing huge round of volatility and once slumping to their fresh 52
weeks low bounced back, though despite recovery ended with cut of over half a
percent on the big budget day. Today, the start is likely to remain cautious
and traders after analyzing the impact of the budget proposals will be taking
selective bets. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that there
are serious challenges as far as agrarian sector is concerned and this Budget
is a combination of several things... In addition to priority to agriculture and
to rural sector, I am putting in place targeting of subsidies through a
legislation which I would introduce immediately. India Inc has lauded the
budget proposals to boost rural and infrastructure sectors, saying they will
have a multiplier effect on the economy. Though, they expressed dissatisfaction
on the corporate taxation front, which was expected to see phased reduction to
25 per cent from 30 per cent. Jaitley also reiterated his commitment to
implement General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) from April 1, 2017, that can give
some respite to the FIIs about the clarity. The rules are aimed at minimising
tax avoidance for investments made by entities based in tax havens. However,
there will sectoral impact and apart from the additional cess, Aviation sector
will have to face a hike of 6 percent in excise duty on jet fuel. On the same
time car companies are likely to feel the heat of an additional percent of cess
hike.
Support
and Resistance: NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
CNX Nifty
|
6987.05
|
6843.70
|
7112.50
|
BSE Sensex
|
23002.00
|
22550.00
|
23398.61
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
ICICI Bank
|
395.55
|
190.05
|
182.53
|
196.73
|
Kotak Mahindra Bank
|
20.99
|
630.40
|
597.32
|
651.92
|
Indusind Bank
|
30.46
|
830.00
|
808.18
|
845.63
|
SBI
|
669.82
|
158.75
|
153.20
|
164.10
|
ITC
|
509.91
|
295.65
|
275.22
|
308.87
|
State Bank of India, the country's largest public sector lender, has received its shareholders' approval to raise up to Rs 15,000 crore.
Yes Bank is aiming to increase its market share to more than two fold at 2.5 percent by 2020 to emerge as one of the major private sector lenders in the country.
Larsen & Toubro secured order worth RS 800 crore from DLF to build its office complex in Gurgaon.
Maruti Suzuki India has started shipping its premium hatchback Baleno to Europe, ahead of the formal launch of the model by its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corp.
Bharti Airtel has unveiled its high speed 4G services in Kannur and Kota.