Indian benchmark indices trimmed
most of their losses, but failed to end the session on positive note, as
traders remained cautious ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet
Yellen, with expectations growing the Fed would raise interest rates soon.
Several Fed officials have recently voiced their need for higher rates, which
has seen the implied probability of a move this month shoot higher. On the
domestic front, sentiments got hit by the GST Council deciding to peg the peak
goods and services tax (GST) rate at 40% in the legislation instead of 28%,
giving it the flexibility to raise rates without having to reach out to
Parliament. Though, the change in the peak rate will not alter the 4-slab rate
structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent agreed upon last year for the moment.
However, investors were seen covering lot of short positions in late afternoon
trades after some pessimism got petered out on the back of strong services PMI
data. India's dominant services industry returned to growth in February for the
first time in four months, as demand slowly recovers after the government's
cash crackdown late last year. The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing
Managers' Index rose to 50.3 in February from 48.7 in January, marginally above
the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction. Some support also came with
the report that the Competition Commission of India is assessing regulations
across sectors in efforts to weed out 'obsolete regulatory restrictions' and
improve the ease of doing business. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 7.34
points or 0.03% to 28832.45, while the CNX Nifty was down by 2.20 points or
0.02% to 8,897.55.
The US markets closed higher on
Friday, extending weekly advance, as comments from Janet Yellen and other key
Federal Reserve officials confirmed growing expectations of a March
interest-rate increase. Fed-funds futures are now pricing in an 82% chance of a
rate hike, according to CME FedWatch Tool. That probability was less than 20%
only a week ago. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that the Federal Reserve is set to
raise its benchmark interest rate later this month as long as economic data on
jobs and inflation holds up. In her comments, Yellen also said rates are likely
to rise faster this year as the economy for the first time in her tenure
appears clear of any imminent hurdles at home or abroad. On the economy front,
the service side of the economy that employs the vast majority of Americans
expanded in February at the fastest pace in a year and a half, another sign the
US is growing at a steady clip early in the Trump administration. The Institute
for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index rose to 57.6% last month
from 56.5% in January. The ISM production index for the service portion of the
economy jumped 3.3 points to 63.6%, marking the highest rate since 2011 and the
second highest level since 2004. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 2.74
points or 0.01 percent to 21,005.71, Nasdaq was up 9.53 points or 0.16 percent
to 5,870.75, while S&P 500 gained 1.2 points or 0.05 percent to 2,383.12.
Crude oil futures bounced back on
Friday, ending higher despite data showing the U.S. oil rig count jumped to the
highest in 17 months. Oil Services firm Baker Hughes revealed that the number
of active US rigs drilling for oil rose by 7 to 609 rigs this week. It was the
seventh straight weekly increase and added to concerns that record levels of US
crude stockpiles may curtail OPEC's efforts to rebalance supply and demand in
the industry.Traders got encouragement with big news from the Federal Reserve,
as Fed Chair Janet Yellen and a number of colleagues signaled they are ready to
raise interest rates. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery surged by
$0.73 or 1.4 percent to $53.33 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London,
Brent crude for May delivery ended higher by $0.78 at $55.86 on the ICE.
Indian
rupee depreciated against the US dollar on Friday, due to fresh demand for the
American currency from banks and importers. Traders remained cautious ahead of
a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, with expectations growing
the Fed would raise interest rates soon. Investors failed to get solace with
the report that the services sector bounced back to growth in February, after
contracting for three months in a row, as businesses recovered from the
demonetisation-related disruptions seen in each of the previous three months.
The seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index rose back above
the 50.0 no-change mark in February, posting 50.3 from 48.7 in January.
Besides, dollar held strong against other currencies overseas along with weak
trade in domestic equity market also kept pressure on the local currency.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.81, 10 paise weaker from its previous close of
66.71 on Thursday.
The
FIIs as per Friday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while they were
net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs
5034.59 crore against gross selling of Rs 5010.38 crore, while in the debt
segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 336.40 crore with gross sales of Rs
1109.86 crore.
The US markets made a modestly
higher close in last session following a highly anticipated speech from Federal
Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, which reinforced expectations that the Fed will
raise interest rates at its next meeting later this month. The Asian markets
have made a mixed start with some of the indices trading in red, the Japanese
and Seoul market were lower as geopolitical risk increased after North Korea
fired four ballistic missiles. The Indian markets despite some late hour
recovery ended with modest cut in last session. Today, the start of the new
week is likely to be in green and traders will be reacting to the developments
of GST during the weekend. Moving a step closer towards implementing the goods
and services tax (GST) from 1 July, the GST council approved two crucial
supporting legislations of central GST law (CGST) and the integrated GST (IGST)
law for this ambitious tax reform. It
will again meet on 16 March to clear the state GST law (SGST) and the union
territory GST law (UTGST). Traders will also be getting some support with the
news that foreign investments in the services sector increased 77.6 percent to
USD 7.55 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal, helped by
government steps to improve ease of doing business. There will be some buzz in
the IT sector, as the Industry body Nasscom has said that US decision to
temporarily suspend the expedited premium processing of H-1B visas will lead to
process delays for Indian IT firms too. However, Nasscom feels that the move
will not be a "significant impediment" for the over $110 billion
outsourcing industry. There will be some buzz from the primary market too where
Music Broadcast, the operator of FM channel Radio City will launch its IPO to
raise about Rs 489 crore. The company has fixed the price band of the issues at
Rs 324-333 per share.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE
(Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
8897.55
|
8869.40
|
8916.40
|
BSE Sensex
|
28832.45
|
28745.73
|
28889.65
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
(in Lacs)
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support
(Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
Hindalco
|
310.12
|
198.55
|
191.08
|
202.88
|
Reliance Ind.
|
192.70
|
1258.55
|
1237.47
|
1283.72
|
IDEA
|
132.12
|
110.55
|
108.97
|
112.47
|
Bharti Infratel
|
124.42
|
307.90
|
297.97
|
313.92
|
SBI
|
101.19
|
265.05
|
263.23
|
267.88
|
Larsen & Toubro's construction arm -- L&T Constructions has bagged various orders worth Rs 2,170 crore under various business segments.
Tata Motors has decided to raise Rs 500 crore through private placement of non-convertible debentures.
ICICI Bank acting through its DIFC (Dubai) branch, priced an issuance of 5.5 year fixed rate notes for an aggregate principal amount of $300 million.
Wipro has entered into partnership with the University of North Texas at Dallas for the expansion of the Wipro Science Education Fellowship program in the United States.