Indian equity
benchmarks were trading lower but staged a comeback to end with gains of around
half percent on Monday amid renewed buying in Oil & Gas, Banking and Energy
shares. Besides, a fall in crude oil prices, and stability in global markets on
hopes of fresh round of talks between Russia and Ukraine supported the
sentiment. Both the indices had opened marginally lower earlier in the day and
extended losses in the morning trade, as some cautiousness crept in as Petrol
and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on March 26, the fourth
increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of
raw material. Sentiments remained down-beat with depositories data showed that
overseas investors have pulled out a net Rs 1,14,855.97 crore from the Indian
markets in the current year so far, amid heightened geopolitical tensions and
inflation concerns. Foreign portfolio investors have sold domestic equities
worth Rs 48,261.65 crore so far this month, taking the year-to-date tally this
year to a massive Rs 1,14,855.97 crore. Some concern also came with report that
as many as 421 infrastructure projects, each entailing investment of Rs 150
crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.73 lakh crore.
However, key gauges erased their losses and turned positive towards the
afternoon, as traders found support with Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar's
statement that the country can double its economy in about 7-8 years if it
grows at the rate of 8 per cent, which is feasible as the country has sustained
a growth rate of 8.5 per cent earlier for a long time. Some support also came
as Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stating that Indian economy can grow
consistently at 8 per cent for the next 20 years leading to the generation of
up to 1.5 crore new jobs and bringing out 3.5 crore people out of the poverty
every year on the basis of the capital investment strategy of the government.
Adding to the optimism, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said
that the free trade agreement between India and the UAE is likely to come into
effect from May 1, 2022, under which domestic exporters of as many as 6,090
goods from sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery
would get duty-free access to the UAE market. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose
231.29 points or 0.40% to 57,593.49 and the CNX Nifty was up by 69.00 points or
0.40% to 17,222.00.
The US markets ended higher on
Monday as hopes about a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine helped offset
concerns about inflation and imminent monetary tightening by the Federal
Reserve. Russia and Ukraine are set to resume diplomatic talks in Turkey on
Tuesday. Russia has reportedly signaled that it may scale down its war and aims
to concerntrate on eastern Ukraine. Ukraine President Zelenskyy also said he
wants to make a deal with Moscow over Sonbas and he is willing to discuss
adopting a neutral status too. Stock specific developments, Tesla Inc. shares soared
more than 8 percent following an announcement from the company that it would
seek investor approval for a stock split. AMC Entertainment shares soared
nearly 45 percent. The movie theater company's CEO Adam Aron said more
transformational M&A deals are on the way. However, Energy stocks drifted
lower, tracking weak crude oil prices. Oil prices tumbled amid concerns about
the outlook for energy demand after Shanghai decided to impose fresh lockdown
restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infections.
Crude oil futures ended deeply in
red on Monday as concerns over new lockdowns in China and the potential impact
on demand sent prices tumbling. China is the world's largest oil importer, so
any slowdown in demand will weigh on prices. The nation uses around 15 million
barrels per day, and imported 10.3 million barrels per day in 2021. Besides,
investors also closely followed the developments on the Russia-Ukraine war
front. Russia and Ukraine are set to begin talks in Turkey on Tuesday. Ukraine
President Zelenskyy also said he wants to make a deal with Moscow over Donbas
and he is willing to discuss adopting a neutral status too. Benchmark crude oil
futures for May delivery fell $7.94 or 7 percent to settle at $105.96 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery dropped $9.57
or 8.1 percent to settle at $107.80 a barrel on London's Intercontinental
Exchange.
Continuing previous session
gains, Indian rupee ended higher against dollar for third straight session on
Monday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Adding to
the optimism, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the
free trade agreement between India and the UAE is likely to come into effect
from May 1, 2022, under which domestic exporters of as many as 6,090 goods from
sectors like textiles, agriculture, dry fruits, gem and jewellery would get
duty-free access to the UAE market. On the global front, Japanese yen crashed
to a six-year low versus the dollar on Monday, and headed for its biggest daily
loss since March 2020 after the Bank of Japan moved to contain rising bond
yields, even as U.S. Treasury yields soared to new multi-year highs. Finally,
the rupee ended at 76.16 (Provisional), stronger by 8 paise from its previous
close of 76.24 on Friday.
The FIIs as per Monday's data
were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment.
In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6773.58 crore against gross
selling of Rs 8163.16 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 2030.09 crore against gross sales of Rs 1292.02 crore. Besides, in the
hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5.68 crore against gross selling of
Rs 9.50 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Monday led by sharp gains in Tesla after the latter announced plans for stock
split. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Tuesday following a tumble
in oil prices overnight. Indian markets climbed higher on Monday amid
volatility, snapping a 3-day losing streak, as shares in Asian markets largely
remained positive. Today, the markets are likely to make optimistic start
tracking overnight sharp fall in crude oil prices. Also, Markets will keenly
watch Russia-Ukraine talks in Turkey today for any cues on de-escalation of the
conflict. Traders will be taking encouragement as Commerce and industry
Minister Piyush Goyal said the free trade agreement between India and the UAE
has opened huge opportunities and businesses of both countries should look at
taking the bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2030. Some support will come as
Sumant Sinha, the newly elected president of Assocham, said that India needs a
strong contract-enforcement agency, a simple GST regime and simplified taxation
process along with a stable policy environment to significantly improve ease of
doing business. Traders may take note of S&P Global Ratings' statement that
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be compelled to signal a neutral policy
stance in the Monetary Policy Committee's review meeting in April as average
consumer inflation is likely to stay firm at 5.4 per cent in FY23. It added the
RBI will likely raise the repo rate by at least 50-75 basis points through
fiscal year 2023, and by another 50 basis points in fiscal 2024. However, there
may be some cautiousness as the latest public debt management report showed
that the government's total liabilities rose to Rs 128.41 lakh crore in
December quarter from Rs 125.71 lakh crore in the three months ended September
2021. The increase reflects a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.15 per cent in
October-December 2021-22. Coal industry stocks will be in focus as ICRA said
the price of imported coal is poised to rise by 45-55 per cent in the first
quarter of FY23 as markets face supply disruption following the Russia-Ukraine
conflict and it would severely impact domestic users of imported dry fuel.
There will be some reaction in aviation industry stocks as Minister of State
for Civil Aviation V K Singh said airports across India will see 33.81 crore
passengers in 2022-23, 69.35 per cent more than the current financial year.
Defence industry stocks will be in limelight as the government said that a
total of Rs 3,343 crore has been received as foreign direct investment (FDI) in
the defence sector since 2014. Besides, Veranda Learning Solutions' Rs
200-crore IPO will open for subscription on Tuesday, at a price band of Rs
130-137 per equity share.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,222.00
|
17,072.24
|
17,303.44
|
BSE
Sensex
|
57,593.49
|
57,066.28
|
57,879.53
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
249.16
|
256.20
|
253.16
|
258.61
|
Coal India
|
191.32
|
191.15
|
186.54
|
194.74
|
Tata Motors
|
167.57
|
432.60
|
427.75
|
436.20
|
State Bank of India
|
167.38
|
497.75
|
486.94
|
503.59
|
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation
|
152.53
|
175.50
|
174.14
|
177.39
|
Coal India's subsidiary -- North Eastern Coalfields has resumed its mining operations at Tikak colliery in Assam.
L&T's building business has set a record by constructing the 7 storey, state-of-the-art FCS Integration Facility for the DRDO in just 45 days using IHMCT.
Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement for acquisition of 7.04% equity stake in Avaada KNShorapur.
HCL Technologies has been selected to provide global service desk and on-site support to Novo Nordisk.