Bulls roared over the Dalal
Street on Friday as Indian equity benchmarks ended with strong gains led by
Consumer Durables, Financial Services and Banking stocks. Markets made a
positive start as traders took support with Central Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) chief Vivek Johri's statement that monthly GST collection is
expected to average around Rs 1.50 lakh crore and it will be the new normal in
FY24 in view of concerted efforts to check evasion and bring new businesses
within the GST net. Some support also came with Jeremy Zook, Director and
Primary Sovereign analyst for India, Fitch Ratings, stating that the
government's continued emphasis on ramping up capex spending should provide a
fillip to both near- and medium-term growth. He believed India is well-placed
to sustain higher rates of growth in the medium-term than many of its peers,
with the capex drive helping to underpin this view. However, markets turned
volatile in late morning deals, as traders got anxious with provisional data
available on the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FII)
net-sold shares worth Rs 3,065.35 crore.
But, markets gained traction in second half of the session to settle
near day's high points, as traders found solace with the US India Strategic and
Partnership Forum (USISPF) stating that the innovative, bold and stellar budget
presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will take India to a
stronger growth trajectory. Some optimism also came with the economic think
tank, the Global Trade Research Initiative's (GTRI) statement that customs duty
changes for several products such as precious metals, small cars, bicycles,
toys and telecommunication components in the Budget will help promote the Make
in India initiative of the government. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 909.64
points or 1.52% to 60,841.88 and the CNX Nifty was up by 243.65 points or 1.38%
to 17,854.05.
The US markets recovered from
initial weakness but failed to hold it and settled in red on Friday amid
concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of much
stronger than expected jobs data. The Labor Department's closely watched
monthly jobs report said non-farm payroll employment soared by 517,000 jobs in
January after surging by an upwardly revised 260,000 jobs in December. Street
had expected employment to increase by 185,000 jobs compared to the addition of
223,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The report also said
the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4 percent in January from 3.5 percent in
December. The dip surprised economists, who had expected the unemployment rate
to inch up to 3.6 percent. With the unexpected decrease, the unemployment rate
dropped to its lowest level since hitting a matching rate in May 1969. While
the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has led
to concerns the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates higher than currently
anticipated. Earlier in the session, the negative sentiment was partly offset
by upbeat service sector data, which generated optimism the economy could be
headed for a soft landing. The report from the Institute for Supply Management
showed service sector activity rebounded by much more than expected in the
month of January. The ISM said its services PMI jumped to 55.2 in January from
a revised 49.2 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Street
had expected the index to inch up to 50.4 from the 49.6 originally reported for
the previous month. Meanwhile, a negative reaction to earnings news from tech
giants Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) also weighed on the
markets, while Apple (AAPL) moved higher despite reporting weaker than expected
quarterly results.
Crude oil futures ended sharply
lower on Friday with losses of around 3% amid concerns about the outlook for
fuel demand, with investors weighing the prospects of a recession. The dollar's
surge after data showed stronger than expected jobs growth in the month of
December also weighed on oil prices. A report from Baker Hughes said the number
of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil declined for the third successive week,
falling by 10 to 599 this week. According to the report, the total active U.S.
rig count, which includes those drilling for natural gas, fell by 12 to 759.
Benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery fell $2.49 or 3.3 percent at
$73.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April
delivery dropped $2.23 or 2.7 percent at $79.94 (Provisional) a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee settled higher
against dollar on last trading day of week supported by a rebound in domestic
equities and easing crude oil prices. Some support came with the economic think
tank, the Global Trade Research Initiative's (GTRI) statement that customs duty
changes for several products such as precious metals, small cars, bicycles,
toys and telecommunication components in the Budget will help promote the Make
in India initiative of the government. On the global front, dollar rose
slightly on Friday, sustaining some momentum after jumping in the previous
session following a raft of central bank decisions in Europe. Finally, the
rupee ended at 81.86 (Provisional), stronger by 34 paise from its previous
close of 82.20 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers debt segment. In
equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9035.22 crore against gross selling
of Rs 12672.91 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs
2013.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 1045.16 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3.21 crore against gross selling of Rs
33.85 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Friday as a blockbuster jobs report revived worries about the interest-rate
outlook. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Monday as diplomatic
tensions increased between the U.S. and China. Indian markets ended
significantly higher on Friday amid growing optimism that interest rates in the
US could be lower by the year-end compared to now. Today, markets are likely to
make flat-to-negative start on the first trading day of the week amid weak cues
from global markets. Investor will keep eye on a three-day policy meeting of
the RBI's monetary policy committee that gets underway later today. The Indian
central bank is likely to raise rates by 25 basis points despite signs of
softening retail inflation. Some cautiousness will come as the government hiked
windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on the
export of diesel and ATF, in line with firming international oil prices. The
levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
(ONGC) has been increased to Rs 5,050 per tonne from Rs 1,900 per tonne, the
order dated February 3. Traders will be concerned as Foreign investors pulled
out Rs 28,852 crore from Indian equities in January, making it the worst
outflow in the last seven months, primarily due to attractiveness of the
Chinese markets. However, some support may come as latest data released by the
central bank showed the Reserve Bank of India's foreign exchange reserves rose
$3 billion to $576.76 billion in the week ended January 27. The current level
of reserves is the highest since the week ended July 8, 2022. Traders may take
note of the Reserve Bank's statement that India's banking sector is resilient
and stable, and the central bank maintains constant vigil on the lenders, amid
concerns over banks' exposure to the embattled Adani Group. There will be some
buzz in coal industry stocks as the coal ministry data showed that the
country's coal production increased by 12.94 per cent to 89.96 million tonnes
in January 2023. The country's coal output stood at 79.65 million tonnes (MT)
in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal. Automobile industry stocks
will be in focus as the Minister of State in the Union Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Anupriya Patel said the Vehicle exports have witnessed an impressive
growth during 2021-22. Export of the total number of automobiles increased from
41,34,047 in 2020-21 to 56,17,246 in 2021-22, registering a positive growth of
35.9 per cent. There will be some reaction in fertilizer industry stocks as
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwant Khuba said India
imported 152.7 lakh tonne of fertiliser, including urea and P&K, till
December of the current fiscal. Investors await more of financial results from
India Inc for domestic cues, with LIC, Adani Transmission and Tata Steel
scheduled to post their earnings later in the day.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,854.05
|
17,668.74
|
17,954.84
|
BSE
Sensex
|
60,841.88
|
60,268.18
|
61,160.46
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone
|
896.62
|
488.40
|
420.00
|
531.90
|
Tata Steel
|
469.77
|
120.00
|
117.80
|
121.60
|
Adani Enterprises
|
438.85
|
1,531.00
|
1,139.00
|
1,801.45
|
State Bank of India
|
323.17
|
545.70
|
527.91
|
554.71
|
ITC
|
222.95
|
380.70
|
374.39
|
384.64
|
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has handled cargo volume of 27.6 million metric tonnes in January 2023, implying a Year-on-Year growth of 11%.
Bharti Airtel has launched its cutting edge 5G services in Kozhikode, Trivandrum and Thrissur. Airtel's 5G services are already live in Kochi, Kerala.
State Bank of India's wholly owned subsidiary -- SBI Capital Markets has opened its office in Bengaluru.
Tata Consumer Products has reported 28.42% rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 369.45 crore for Q3FY23 as compared to Rs 287.68 crore for Q3FY22.