Indian equity benchmarks
continued their winning run for the second straight day and ended with gains of
over a percent on Thursday, on the back of positive global cues. Sensex and
Nifty settled above their crucial 31,850 and 9,300 levels, respectively. Key
indices opened in green and stayed in the positive terrain for whole trading
session, as traders took encouragement with Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev
Sanyal's statement that more calibrated monetary and fiscal stimulus measures
are on the anvil to deal with the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the
consequent lockdown. He expressed hope that a significant part of the economy
will be functioning, if not everything, by May 3. However, key indices trimmed
some of their gains in late afternoon session as Fitch Ratings slashed India's
economic growth projections to 0.8 per cent in the current 2020-21 fiscal
saying an unparalleled global recession was underway due to disruptions caused
by the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdowns. But, markets
regained its upward momentum to end near day's high, as traders found support
with the Centre slashing the subsidy on non-urea fertilisers, a move that would
reduce the burden on the exchequer to Rs 22,186.55 crore in this fiscal amid
the COVID-19 outbreak. Investors were also eyeing the two-day (April 23-24)
meeting of the economic advisory council which is expected to deliberate on the
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic growth in this fiscal year and the
next. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 483.53 points or 1.54% to 31,863.08, while
the CNX Nifty was up by 126.60 points or 1.38% to 9,313.90.
The US markets ended mostly in
red on Thursday as traders reacted to conflicting reports regarding Gilead
Sciences' (GILD) potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir. A private report said the drug flopped in its
first randomized clinical trial. Citing draft documents accidentally published
by the World Health Organization, report said the Chinese trial showed
remdesivir did not improve patients' condition or reduce the pathogen's
presence in the bloodstream. On the economic data front, more than 4 million
people filed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended
April 18th, according to a report released by the Labor Department , although
that reflects a continued decline from the nearly 7 million people that filed
first-time claims in the last week of March. The Labor Department said initial
jobless claims dropped to 4.427 million, a decrease of 810,000 from the
previous week's revised level of 5.237 million. Street had expected jobless
claims to slump to 4.200 million from the 5.245 million originally reported for
the previous week. Meanwhile, a report released by the Commerce Department
showed a substantial decrease in new home sales in the US in the month of
March. The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 15.4 percent to
an annual rate of 627,000 in March after tumbling by 4.6 percent to a revised
rate of 741,000 in February. Street had expected new home sales to nosedive by
15.7 percent to an annual rate of 645,000 in March from the 765,000 originally
reported for the previous month.
Magnifying their previous
session's rally, crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as an escalation in
tensions in the Middle East, and expectations of output cut by leading
producers lifted the commodity. Following Iran's Revolutionary Guard conducting
a space launch that could advance its the country's long-range missile program,
US President Donald Trump threatened to engage Iranian gunboats that harassed
US navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Besides, Investors were also betting on more stimulus from central banks
and governments across the globe. Crude oil futures for June surged $2.72 or
19.7 percent to settle at $16.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
June Brent crude rose 96 cents or 4.7 percent to settle at $21.33 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Extending gains for a second day,
Indian rupee ended significantly higher against dollar on Thursday, on
persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments remained
optimistic as Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said more calibrated
monetary and fiscal stimulus measures are on the anvil to deal with the
economic fallout from COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown. He expressed hope
that a significant part of the economy will be functioning, if not everything,
by May 3. Healthy gains in domestic stocks and some weakness in the greenback
against global currencies also supported local unit. On the global front, dollar erased gains and
fell against the currencies on Thursday, as a rebound in crude prices after an
unprecedented collapse helped to calm markets unnerved by the massive
coronavirus-led drop in global demand. Finally, the rupee ended at 76.06, 62
paise stronger from its previous close of 76.68 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 5852.00 crore against gross selling of Rs 6643.23 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 443.18 crore with gross sales
of Rs 514.31 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs
16.29 crore against gross selling of Rs 15.19 crore.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Thursday as traders reacted to conflicting reports regarding Gilead
Sciences' (GILD) potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir. Asian markets are
trading in red on Friday after an overnight report that raised doubts over a
potential coronavirus treatment. Indian markets ended higher for the second
straight session on Thursday, with IT and private banks' stocks leading the
surge amid strong recovery in global markets. Today, the start of last session
of the week is likely to be negative tracking weakness in global markets amid
concerns over coronavirus treatment. Traders will be concerned with rising
coronavirus cases in the country. Total COVID-19 cases in India has gone up to
21,700. This includes 16,689 active coronavirus cases, while 4324 patients have
been cured/discharged. As many as 686 people have died due to coronavirus in
the country. Also, there will be some cautiousness with the Confederation of
Indian Industry's (CII) report that India's GDP is likely to range between a
decline of 0.9% and a growth of 1.5% in the current financial year, with the
economy undergoing a turbulent phase caused by the coronavirus-induced
lockdown. Though, some support may come later in the day with report that Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will again meet
on April 24 to finalise a second stimulus package for industry, the poor and
farmers. Traders may take note of report that relaxing norms, the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) has permitted banks to issue electronic cards to persons having
overdraft accounts that are only in the nature of personal loan without any
specific end-use restrictions. Meanwhile, providing compliance relaxation amid
the coronavirus pandemic, markets regulator Sebi has gave time till
September-end to certain companies for conducting their annual general
meetings. There will be some reaction in refinery stocks with Crisil Rating's
report that Indian oil refiners may have incurred an inventory loss of Rs
25,000 crore in the January-March period as oil prices slumped and are now
likely seeing a plunge in refining margins in the current quarter. Metal stocks
will be in focus with the World Steel Association's latest report showing that
India's crude steel output declined 14% to 8.65 million tonne (MT) during
March. Also, hospital sector stocks will be in action with ICRA's report that
the Covid-19 epidemic has not just impacted the functioning of hospital sector,
but has also dragged down the short- term outlook to negative on account of a
sharp fall in volumes both at the out- patient department (OPD) and the
in-patient department (IPD).
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
9,313.90
|
9,208.17
|
9,381.62
|
BSE Sensex
|
31,863.08
|
31,450.99
|
32,117.09
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Zee Entertainment
Enterprises
|
692.08
|
157.55
|
150.93
|
168.78
|
State Bank of India
|
509.57
|
186.70
|
184.60
|
189.35
|
Tata Motors
|
503.73
|
75.65
|
74.48
|
77.73
|
ICICI Bank
|
459.53
|
352.95
|
342.37
|
359.17
|
Oil & Natural Gas
Corporation
|
382.09
|
67.35
|
66.25
|
68.75
|
Tata Motors has extended the warranty for its commercial vehicles customers worldwide.
Tech Mahindra is collaborating with IBM to help businesses transform their operations and accelerate their hybrid cloud strategies.
Vedanta has spent Rs 151 crore so far to provide preventive healthcare to local communities and distributing free meals to daily wage workers.
Tata Steel has reported 11% fall in its consolidated sales at 7 MT during March quarter 2020 as compared to the year-ago period.