Extending northward journey for
third straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Monday's trade with
a gain of around half a percent with frontline gauges recapturing their crucial
35,100 (Sensex) and 10,700 (Nifty) levels, as tensions in the Korean Peninsula
eased after a spectacularly successful inter-Korean summit. Markets started the
session on an optimistic note and traded in tight band throughout the session.
Sentiments remained upbeat with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar's
statement that India's economy to grow by at least 7.5 per cent in 2018-19 on
the back of improvement in investment cycle and capacity utilisation. The
government should now concentrate on consolidating the reform initiatives
undertaken in the last 47 months, he added. Traders also took some
encouragement with report stating that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is
withdrawing a restriction that limited foreign investors to only investing in
government and corporate bonds with tenures of three years or more, a move that
could bolster the domestic bond market. Some support came with Economic Affairs
Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg's
statement that the process of economic reforms is still continuing in
reasonably major way and noted that there are no signs of de-reform in the
system. Meanwhile, Fitch has kept India's rating unchanged with a stable
outlook, saying the rating balances a strong medium-term growth outlook and
favourable external balances with weak fiscal finances and some lagging
structural factors, including governance standards and a still-difficult, but
improving, business environment. Some optimism also came with report that the
Centre has a surplus of Rs 20,000 crore in the GST cess fund as of March 31
which will be used to compensate the states for revenue shortfall suffered due
to the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged
190.66 points or 0.55% to 35,160.36, while the CNX Nifty was up by 47.05 points
or 0.44% to 10,739.35.
The US markets closed mostly
higher on Tuesday, as a sharp rally in technology stocks helped the S&P 500
and the Nasdaq shake off an early decline. However, the Dow fell for a third
straight session as caution remained high ahead of the conclusion of a Federal
Reserve policy meeting and fresh developments in global trade. The Federal
Reserve began a two-day meeting Tuesday. When it wraps, the central bank is
expected to leave interest rates on hold and signal no change to a tightening
path of two more rate increases in 2018. Changes to Fed policy - in addition to
interest rates, the US central bank is shrinking the size of its balance sheet
- are widely seen as one of the biggest headwinds facing markets. The US
tariffs on aluminum and steel imports were in focus again. President Donald
Trump late Monday gave top allies - the European Union, Canada and Mexico - an
extension to the tariff exemption to allow more time negotiate a new pact to
avoid the levies. The tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminum - already in
effect against China, Russia, Japan and others - were slated to come into
effect on May 1, but have now been pushed back to June 1. On the economy front,
American manufacturers grew at a slower pace in April, hindered by the highest
prices since 2011 for raw materials such as steel as well as supply and labor
shortages. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index
fell to 57.3% last month from 59.3% in December. The ISM's index for new orders
was little changed at 61.2%, but production fell 3.8 points to 57.2% and the
employment gauge slipped to 54.2% from 57.3%. The Nasdaq gained 64.438 points
or 0.91 percent to 7,130.70, the S&P 500 was up by 6.75 points or 0.25
percent to 2,654.80, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 64.1 points or
0.27 percent to 24,099.05.
Crude oil
futures edged lower on Tuesday amid concerns about possible sanctions in Iran
in the wake of complaints it continues to pursue nuclear weapons. Meanwhile,
other Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members are
reducing output in order to offset the U.S. shale boom. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) reported on Monday that oil production rose to a record
10.264 million barrels a day in February. The EIA will issue its weekly figures
on petroleum supply and production on May 2, 2018. There are expectations that
the EIA will report a rise of 1.8 million barrels in crude stockpiles, along
with supply declines of 1 million barrels for gasoline and 1.3 million barrels
for distillates. Benchmark crude oil futures for June delivery dropped by $1.32
or 1.9 percent to settle at $67.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. July Brent crude declined $1.56 or 2.1 percent to settle at $73.13 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Rupee remain closed on April 30
and May 1 on account of holiday. Extending gains for the second straight day,
Indian rupee ended stronger against the US dollar on Friday, on continued
selling of the US currency by banks and exporters. Traders took some solace
with a private report stating that India's economic growth will accelerate to
7.2% in the current fiscal buoyed by manufacturing activity even as rising oil
prices and high government debt remain a challenge. The agriculture sector is
expected to grow higher than the estimated 2.1% in the current fiscal year on
account of positive prospects on Rabi harvest and a normal monsoon. Besides,
good going in the local equity markets too supported the domestic unit. On the
global front, dollar edged higher on Friday and is on track to post its best
weekly performance in more than 1-1/2 years as a spike in US Treasury yields
prompted some investors to unwind some short bets against the dollar,
especially against some emerging market currencies. Finally, the rupee ended at
66.65, 10 paise stronger from its previous close of 66.75 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity and debt segments both. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 7368.22 crore against gross selling of Rs 7710.16 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 852.05 crore with gross sales
of Rs 3116.31 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, there was no buying and
selling.
The US markets ended mostly in
green on Tuesday after the Institute for Supply Management released a report
showing growth in manufacturing activity slowed by more than anticipated in the
month of April. Asian stocks are trading lower in early deals on Wednesday,
after most overseas benchmarks saw little change the previous day. Indian stock
markets edged higher on Monday as tensions in the Korean Peninsula faded after
a spectacularly successful inter-Korean summit. Today, the markets are likely
to make flat- to-negative start as investors looked ahead to a slew of U.S.
data releases this week for hints on the interest rate outlook. Traders will react
negatively on report that the eight core industries' output growth slowed to
three-month low of 4.1 per cent in March, largely due to some base effect and
contraction in crude oil production. The latest print was lower than the
revised 5.4 per cent growth in February and 6.1 per cent in January. Also, the
December 2017 print for core eight industries has been revised downwards to 3.8
per cent from 4.2 per cent projected earlier. However, markets may get some
support later in the day on report that the government mopped up over Rs 1
trillion in GST collection in April, indicating stabilisation of the new
indirect tax regime which was rolled out on July 1 last year. While Goods and
Services Tax (GST) collection in entire 2017-18 stood Rs 7.41 trillion, in
March the figure was Rs 892.6 billion. Traders will also get some support with
Union Minister Suresh Prabu's statement that India, driven by a new industrial
policy to be rolled out soon, will be the next engine of growth for the world.
There will be some important earnings announcements too, to keep the markets
buzzing.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous
close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
10,739.35
|
10,709.63
|
10,764.03
|
BSE
Sensex
|
35,160.36
|
35,038.47
|
35,247.77
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous
close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance
(Rs)
|
(in
Lacs)
|
Yes
Bank
|
284.00
|
362.00
|
352.47
|
369.37
|
Axis
Bank
|
183.57
|
517.30
|
508.43
|
531.13
|
SBI
|
172.63
|
246.40
|
244.03
|
249.23
|
ICICI
Bank
|
97.38
|
284.20
|
280.67
|
289.37
|
Reliance
Industries
|
88.72
|
963.30
|
951.33
|
983.93
|
Wipro has expanded Wipro Science Education Fellowship Program to three additional universities in the United States.
Sun Pharma CHC, a division of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has entered into the anti-fungal powder OTC category with ABZORB.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has reported rise of 27.41% in its net profit at Rs 1,789.24 crore for Q4FY18 as compared to Rs 1,404.34 crore for Q4FY17.
HDFC has reported a rise of 28.64% in its net profit after taxes for Q4FY18 as compared to Rs 3,079.33 crore for Q4FY17.