Monday turned out to be a
remarkable day of trade for Indian equity benchmarks where bulls tightened
their grip on Dalal Street, with Nifty and Sensex recapturing their crucial
10,550 and 34,400 levels, respectively. The markets' mood remained up-beat
throughout the day and benchmarks fervently gained from strength to strength,
as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Key gauges made a
gap-up opening on a private poll showing that India's economy grew at its
fastest pace in a year in the October-December quarter as consumers, businesses
and the government stepped up spending. This suggests that disruptions from a
shock ban on high-value currency notes in November 2016 and the chaotic launch of
a goods and services tax (GST) in July are fading. The markets also got boost
with the report that Commerce and industry ministry has appointed four
institutes, including IIFT and ICAI, to interact with stakeholders and suggest
measures to push India's ranking in ease of doing business index. Markets
extended rally in second half of trade to end near intraday high levels, as
some support came with Union Minister Parshottam Rupala's statement that the
Centre was making concerted efforts to double the income of farmers by 2022 and
asked scientists, and others concerned to tackle the challenges being faced by
the agriculture sector. He opined that scientists, environmental and
agricultural experts must have a global outlook and local approach to combat the
challenges in agricultural and environmental sectors. Adding to the optimism, a
private report highlighting that focus on investments, productivity will lead
to sustainable growth rate. According to the report, India needs to
industrialize further and target 25 per cent of GDP pie for manufacturing
sector by 2025 in order to achieve double-digit investment growth and create
jobs for its swelling labour force. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 303.60
points or 0.89% to 34,445.75, while the CNX Nifty was up by 91.55 points or
0.87% to 10,582.60.
The US markets closed higher on
Monday, with Dow and S&P 500 rose for a third session in a broad-based
rally led by technology shares on the back of rotational buying. Investors are
also bracing for a busy week that will feature several Federal Reserve speakers,
including the new Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's appearance in front of Congress.
On the economy front, a measure of the US economy calculated at the Chicago
Federal Reserve ticked lower in January from December owed largely to a factory
slowdown. The Chicago Fed's index of national economic activity eased to a
positive 0.12 last month from a downwardly revised positive 0.14 in December.
The index has moved in a narrow band over recent months. October's reading of
an upwardly revised positive 0.91 was the highest for the volatile index since
positive 0.94 in December 2006. The index's less-volatile, three-month moving
average fell to positive 0.12 in January from positive 0.26 in December. Meanwhile,
new-home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000 in January.
Sales of newly-constructed homes tumbled unexpectedly at the start of the year.
January's selling pace was 7.8% lower than in December, although that month was
revised upward. It was 1% lower than January 2017, as well. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 399.28 points or 1.58 percent to 25,709.27, Nasdaq was
up by 84.074 points or 1.15 percent to 7,421.46 and S&P 500 gained 32.3
points or 1.18 percent to 2,779.60.
Crude oil prices edged higher on
Monday, extending gains made last week on the back of halted production at a
Libyan oil field and an unexpected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles. Libya's
National Oil Co. on Friday declared force majeure on exports from the el-Feel
oil field in the south of the country. The 60,000 barrel-a-day field was shut
down and evacuated following a violent protest by a unit of local guards.
Prices rose despite reports that Saudi Arabia wants to end their supply quota
plan by 2019. Saudi Arabian oil minister Khalid al-Falih said, “A study is
taking place and once we know exactly what balancing the market will entail we
will announce what is the next step. The next step may be easing of the
production constraints”. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery surged
36 cents or 0.6 percent at $63.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
April Brent crude declined 19 cents or 0.3 percent to settle at $67.50 a barrel
on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian
rupee ended marginally weaker against the American currency on Monday, due to
fresh dollar demand from banks and importers. Sentiments remained down-beat
with report that overseas investment by Indian companies fell by nearly 70 per
cent to $866 million in January this year. Investors even overlooked a private
report stating that India's economic recovery is expected to have gathered
momentum and GDP growth is likely to grow at its fastest pace at 7 per cent in
the December quarter as consumers, businesses and the government stepped up
spending. However, persistent foreign capital inflows into equity market along
with dollar losing sheen against other currencies overseas restricted further
losses. On the global front, dollar turned lower against a currency basket on
Monday, giving back some of the previous week's gains, with investors cautious
ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's first congressional testimony
later in the week. Finally, the rupee ended at 64.79, 6 paise weaker from its
previous close of 64.73 on Friday.
The FIIs as per Monday'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 6993.66 crore against gross
selling of Rs 6142.06 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1546.12 crore with gross sales of Rs 2814.70 crore. Besides, in the
hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 0.05 crore against gross selling of
Rs 0.38 crore.
The U.S. stocks rose sharply on
Monday, as treasury yields pulled back further partly in reaction to dovish
comments by St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard warning against
aggressive interest rate hikes not supported by incoming data. Asian stocks
held near three-week highs in morning deals, thanks to higher oil prices and
easing U.S. borrowing costs. The Japanese stock market is notably higher on
Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as yen weakened. Indian
equity markets edged higher for a second straight session on Monday, as
investors looked ahead to key macroeconomic data due this week for direction.
Today, the start is likely to be on positive side as investors keep an eye on
the GDP data for December quarter due on Wednesday. Traders will get some
support with report that India's economic recovery is expected to have gathered
momentum as economists expect India's GDP to grow 6.9 percent in the December
quarter, the fastest pace in a year and up from 6.3 percent in July-September
quarter, on the back of increased spending by consumers, businesses and the
government. Investors will also get some
encouragement with economic think-tank NCAER's report that the Indian economy
is projected to grow at 6.7 per cent in the current financial year and 7.5 per
cent in 2018-19. The figures are in line with the growth projections in this
year's Economic Survey, which said India is likely to clock 7-7.5 per cent
growth in 2018-19, up from 6.75 per cent in the current fiscal. Some support
may also come with report that the government plans to cut red tape and ease
rules for foreign portfolio investors (FPI), as it seeks to attract more
investments into Asia's third-largest economy. However, some concern may come
later in the trade on report that investments in the domestic capital market
through participatory notes (P-notes) plunged to a nearly eight-and-a-half-year
low of Rs 1.19 lakh crore in January-end amid stringent norms put in place by
regulator SEBI to check misuse.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE Nifty
|
10,582.60
|
10,537.55
|
10,610.30
|
BSE Sensex
|
34,445.75
|
34,286.52
|
34,544.19
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close
(Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
SBI
|
153.06
|
274.45
|
272.20
|
278.35
|
Bharti Infratel
|
110.37
|
344.45
|
337.57
|
349.67
|
Tata Motors
|
105.77
|
372.05
|
372.53
|
372.53
|
Yes Bank
|
92.25
|
326.15
|
320.93
|
329.78
|
Tata Steel
|
92.00
|
680.20
|
671.38
|
690.83
|
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Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has received the EIR from the USFDA for its formulations facility at Srikakulam in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Tata Motors has launched lifestyle SUV -- Tata NEXON -- in Nepal on February 22, 2018.
Lupin has launched Testosterone Topical Solution, 30 mg per actuation having received an approval from the USFDA earlier.