Recouping half
of their yesterday's losses, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Friday's trade
with a gain of around two and a half percentage points, as traders wend for
bargain hunting as U.S. President Joe Biden hit back at Russia with harsh
sanctions after it attacked Ukraine. Markets started the day with a gap up
opening and traded with traction throughout the day amid buying across the
sectors, finishing near intraday high levels. Sentiments remained up-beat as
traders took support with report that the heightened geopolitical tensions and
their possible impact on global growth have led investors to believe that US
Federal Reserve will ton down its aggressive interest rate hike pitch going
ahead. Besides, US President Joe Biden's announcement that the country is
working with allies on a release of oil from strategic reserves after crude
prices shot up, too aided sentiments. Sentiments also got support with report
that Moody's Investors Service upgraded its financial year 2022-2023 (FY23)
growth forecast for the Indian economy to 8.4 per cent from the earlier
estimated 7.9 per cent as the country moves to normalcy, post the removal
Covid-19 restrictions. Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings maintained its earlier
projection of 10.3 percent growth in FY23 compared to 8.4 percent estimated for
FY22. Traders shrugged off report that India has received total foreign direct
investment (FDI) of $60.3 billion during April to December period of 2021-22
which is 10.6 per cent lower compared to the $67.5 billion of FDI received in
the same period of 2020-21. Traders also took note of Chief Economic Advisor
(CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran's statement that the Indian economy is now poised
for recovery but high crude oil price is a cause for concern. Besides, the
income tax department said it has issued refunds of close to Rs 1.83 lakh crore
to more than 2.07 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. This includes 1.67 crore
refunds of the 2020-21 fiscal ended March 31, 2021, amounting to Rs 33,818.97
crore. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 1328.61 points or 2.44% to 55,858.52 and
the CNX Nifty was up by 410.45 points or 2.53% to 16,658.40.
The US markets ended sharply
higher on Friday as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced
levels following the sell-off seen in recent sessions. The major averages
showed a notable rebound from multi-month intraday lows during trading on
Thursday but remain well off their recent highs. Concerns about the eventual
Russian invasion of Ukraine weighed on the markets late last week. While the
U.S. and its allies have imposed severe sanctions on Russia in response to the
attack, the measures are not seen as crippling as some had feared. The West's
seeming unwillingness to target Russia's energy sector has helped ease worries
about a spike in oil and gas prices fueling further inflation. After reaching a
high above $100 a barrel in the previous session, crude for April delivery
tumbled $1.22 to $91.59 a barrel. Reports that Russia is prepared to send a
delegation to Belarusian capital Minsk for talks about Ukraine also contributed
to the positive sentiment. Russia's apparent willingness to hold talks comes
after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled we has open to
discussing Ukraine's neutral status.
Crude oil futures settled lower
on Friday as investors continued to monitor Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a day
after crude briefly topped the $100-a-barrel threshold for the first time in
over seven years. Reports said Russia was in favor of talks with Ukraine
pressured prices, though few details were available and traders remained
cautious. Meanwhile. A report from Baker Hughes today showed the rigs count in
the U.S. rose by 2 to 522 in the week to February 25. Benchmark crude oil
futures for April delivery fell $1.22 or 1.3 percent to settle at $91.59 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery
declined $1.15 or 1.2 percent to settle at $97.93 a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended considerably
higher supported by a retreat in oil prices and a rebound in domestic equities,
tracking the increase in global risk appetite. Investors' optimism was driven
by the coordinated sanctions against Russia that targeted its banks, which
helped a tentative rebound in global stocks. Sentiments were also upbeat as
Moody's Investors Service upgraded its financial year 2022-2023 (FY23) growth
forecast for the Indian economy to 8.4 per cent from the earlier estimated 7.9
per cent as the country moves to normalcy, post the removal Covid-19
restrictions. Traders took note of report that India is exploring ways to set up
a rupee payment mechanism for trade with Russia to soften the blow on New Delhi
of Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. On the
global front, dollar retreated against most currencies, including the euro, on
Friday, as markets walked back some of the tumultuous moves from the previous
day when Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent investors scrambling. Finally, the
rupee ended at 75.33, stronger by 27 paise from its previous close of 75.60 on
Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 9191.16 crore against gross selling of Rs 15878.60 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 290.25 crore against
gross sales of Rs 321.37 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 16.27 crore against gross selling of Rs 9.09 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday as investors flocked to buy beaten down shares. Asian markets are
trading mixed on Monday as investors monitor the Russia-Ukraine crisis and
related sanctions. Indian markets made a comeback on Friday, recouping half of
the previous day's losses, amid cautious gains across global markets as
investors assessed the impact of Western sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.
Today, markets are likely to make cautious start of the holiday shortened week
following mixed cues from Asian peers. The market will also be tracking global
developments on the Russia-Ukraine war and its impact on the global economy
including that of India. Traders will be concerned as domestic traders' body --
the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said the conflict between Russia
and Ukraine is expected to hit badly the Indian economy and the trade to a
significant extent. CAIT said the impact will jeopardise efforts to recover the
domestic trade from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some cautiousness may come with a
private report stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into
India in the third quarter of FY22 shrank almost 44% to $12 billion from $21.46
billion in the year-ago period. Also, continuing the selling streak for the
fifth consecutive month, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out as much
as Rs 35,506 crore out of the Indian markets in February. However, some support
may come later in the day as Arvind Panagariya former vice-chairman of NITI
Aayog said India is poised to grow at 7-8% over the next decade and be the
third largest economy by 2030 on the back of four big reforms by the
government. This could even go up to 9-10% with increasing the size and scale
of operation and doing away with protectionism. Besides, the RBI said the
country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $2.762 billion to $632.952
billion for the week ended February 18 on a healthy rise in the value of gold
reserves and core currency assets. Traders may take note of Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India's post-pandemic economic recovery will
be driven by the transition to green energy. Separately, she also said India is
at a stage where growth and the focus on development have got to be
strengthened from every side and intellectual property rights (IPRs) have an
important role in it. There will be some buzz in the pharma stocks with private
report that the pharmaceutical sector in the country can grow to $130 billion
by 2030. Metal stocks will be in focus as Union Steel Minister Ram Chandra
Prasad Singh said the consumption of steel will continue to rise due to various
programmes and schemes of the government and stressed that a mission to develop
the secondary steel sector is in the making. There will be some reaction in
infrastructure industry stocks with government data showing that as many as 443
infrastructure projects, each entailing investment of Rs 150 crore or more,
have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.45 lakh crore.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
16,658.40
|
16,508.20
|
16,778.70
|
BSE
Sensex
|
55,858.52
|
55,377.30
|
56,261.72
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata Motors
|
488.76
|
460.85
|
446.40
|
470.50
|
ITC
|
236.33
|
214.15
|
210.96
|
216.91
|
State Bank of India
|
217.92
|
483.75
|
478.06
|
490.66
|
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation
|
202.25
|
159.60
|
157.46
|
161.06
|
Indian Oil Corporation
|
186.99
|
112.40
|
109.44
|
116.94
|
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Nimbus Health GmbH (Nimbus Health).
Coal India's subsidiary company -- South Eastern Coalfields has surpassed the last year's coal dispatch figure by transporting 139 MT of the dry fuel so far in the current financial year.
TCS in partnership with University of Kashmir has launched a program to improve employability skills of students in Kashmir, under its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
Maruti Suzuki India has launched the New WagonR in an all new avatar.