Extending their winning streak to
seventh straight session, Indian equity benchmarks closed the trading session
with strong gains on Tuesday. The start of the day was positive, aided by
reports that the net direct tax collection figure has crossed the Rs 10 lakh
crore mark as on March 16, helped by the fourth and final installment of tax
payment. The entire advance tax data from across the country has not come yet.
The net direct tax collection during April-January of this fiscal stood at Rs
7.89 lakh crore as against Rs 12 lakh crore targeted for the entire fiscal of
2018-19. However, the trade remained thin for the most part of the session,
ahead of the outcome of the 34th GST Council meeting. Traders were cautious
with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that India cannot achieve 9-10%
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth without revolution in the farm sector. He
said there is a need to boost investment in the agriculture sector as well as
to introduce new technology and market reforms. However, key indices gained
momentum in the last hours of the trade, aided by firm cues from European
markets. The market participants got comfort with reports that an RBI-appointed
panel sought suggestions from the public on long-term solutions for economic
and financial sustainability of MSME sector, including ways to improve credit
rating mechanism to help them raise funds at competitive rates. Adding optimism
among the investors, ICRA, domestic rating agency, in its latest report said that
the information technology (IT) services sector is likely to register a growth
of 7-9% in next financial year (FY20) mainly on account of demand for digital
solutions. It mentioned that the earlier small-scale proof of concept digital
projects has started evolving into enterprise level larger implementations
coupled with improvement in discretionary spend supporting future growth.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 268.40 points or 0.70% to 38,363.47, while the CNX
Nifty was up by 70.20 points or 0.61% to 11,532.40.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Tuesday, on reports that US negotiators are concerned that China is pushing
back against American demands. Chinese officials are reportedly indicating that
the US has not made sufficient assurances that President Donald Trump's
administration will lift tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing
agreeing to changes in their intellectual property regulations. Besides,
investors were also on standby for the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday. No
changes in rates are expected, but market participants will focus on remarks by
Chairman Jerome Powell at his news conference and policy makers' forecasts of
future rate moves. On the economic front, with a drop in orders for non-durable
goods partly offsetting an increase in orders for durable goods, the Commerce
Department released a report showing new orders for US manufactured goods edged
only slightly higher in the month of January. The Commerce Department said
factory orders inched up by 0.1% in January, matching the 0.1% uptick in
December. Street had expected orders to rise by 0.3%. The modest increase in
factory orders came as durable goods orders rose by 0.3% in January after
jumping by 1.3% in December. Orders for transportation equipment showed a
substantial increase, surging up by 1.2% in January after soaring by 3.2% in
the previous month. Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 26.72 points or 0.10
percent to 25887.38 and S&P 500 was down by 0.37 points or 0.01 percent to
2832.57, while Nasdaq gained 9.47 points or 0.12 percent to 7723.95.
Crude oil futures ended
marginally lower on Tuesday. However, Brent crude settled higher with major
global producers outside the US expected to continue to keep a lid on output.
Oil prices have risen by over 25% since the start of 2019 as output cuts by
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies and
involuntary cuts by Iran and Venezuela have prompted fears about supply.
Besides, weekly US petroleum supply data will be released on Wednesday by the
Energy Information Administration (EIA). Benchmark crude oil futures for April
declined 6 cents or 0.1 percent to settle at $59.03 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. However, May Brent crude gained 7 cents or 0.1 percent to
settle at $67.61 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Snapping six day of gaining
streak, Indian rupee ended weaker on Tuesday as traders turned cautious with
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that India cannot achieve 9-10% Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) growth without revolution in the farm sector. He said
there is a need to boost investment in the agriculture sector as well as to introduce
new technology and market reforms. However, the downside remain capped with
traders taking solace with reports that the net direct tax collection figure
has crossed the Rs 10 lakh crore mark as on March 16, helped by the fourth and
final installment of tax payment. The entire advance tax data from across the
country has not come yet. The net direct tax collection during April-January of
this fiscal stood at Rs 7.89 lakh crore as against Rs 12 lakh crore targeted
for the entire fiscal of 2018-19. Finally, the rupee ended at 68.96, 43 paise
weaker from its previous close of 68.53 on Monday.
The FIIs as per Tuesday's data
were net buyers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 6445.56 crore against gross selling of Rs 3943.35 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1332.03 crore with gross
sales of Rs 402.02 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 0.13 crore against gross selling of Rs 0.04 crore.
The US markets ended mixed on
Tuesday, as investors hoped for a more accommodative policy stance at the end
of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on March 20. Asian markets are trading
mixed on Wednesday following a series of conflicting reports on US-China trade
that surfaced overnight. Indian markets settled higher with notable gains on
Tuesday to extend their northward journey for seventh straight session, on
account of late hour buying amid continuous foreign fund inflow. Today, the
markets are likely to make pessimistic start tracking mixed cues from global
market. Investors will be eyeing outcome of the US Federal Reserve's tow-day
meeting, it is expected that Feb will stick to a dovish stance and unveil a
plan to stop cutting bond holdings later this year. On the domestic front,
trading volume may be thin ahead of holiday on March 21 on account of Holi.
There will be some cautiousness with a report that Indian mutual funds and
insurance firms, which scooped up shares while foreign institutional investors
(FIIs) stayed away, turned net sellers of Rs 10,247.9 crore in March, even as
FIIs returned to Indian markets. Some concerns may also come with a report that
there is a 70% chance of El Nino climate cycle forming towards the second half
of this year, a forecast that does not augur well for the monsoon season in
India. However, traders may take note of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor
Shakthikanta Das' statement that the market response to the unconventional
liquidity tool of dollar swap auction worth $5 billion has been received quite
well. Meanwhile, economists raised concerns over a sharp slowdown in the Indian
economy and pitched for a monetary policy boost to support growth at a meeting
with the RBI chief on March 19. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das met more than a
dozen economists to get their views on the economy ahead of the Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC) decision due on April 4. Most economists expect the six-member
MPC to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points for the second time in a row next
month to 6.00 percent, a level last seen in August 2017. There will be some
buzz in the real estate sector stocks as the all-powerful Goods and Services
Tax (GST) Council approved a transition plan for the implementation of new tax
structure for housing units. It has decided that builders can pick between paying
12% for non-affordable houses with ITC benefits or 5% without the tax rebates
for under-construction houses. Likewise, for affordable housing projects,
builders can choose between 8% with tax rebates or 1% without it. The new
rates, without ITC benefits, will apply for all projects that begin
construction only after April 1.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
11,532.40
|
11,474.48
|
11,567.08
|
BSE Sensex
|
38,363.47
|
38,162.45
|
38,480.28
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
IOC
|
304.04
|
162.70
|
160.97
|
165.22
|
SBI
|
272.19
|
303.05
|
299.27
|
306.72
|
NTPC
|
259.51
|
134.90
|
131.10
|
138.00
|
Yes Bank
|
214.48
|
248.80
|
245.70
|
251.20
|
ONGC
|
182.90
|
157.00
|
153.47
|
161.87
|
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