A Saturday
special trading session ended on a higher note, with both Sensex and Nifty
hitting fresh record closing highs. Stock exchanges -- BSE and NSE -- conducted
two special trading sessions on Saturday, aimed at testing their preparedness
in case of any unexpected disaster in the system. After a positive start,
markets remained higher during the first special trading session from 9:15 am
to 10 am, as foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. The provisional
data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought
shares worth Rs 128.94 crore on March 1. Indices resumed their second trading
session at 11:30 am and continued positive trend. Markets settled their trade
in green terrain with marginal gains at 12:30 pm. Sentiments were positive as
GST collections rose by 12.5 per cent to Rs 1.68 lakh crore in February 2024
compared to the year-ago period buoyed by an increase in domestic sales as well
as imports. With this, the gross GST collection in April-February of the
current fiscal stood at Rs 18.40 lakh crore, up by 11.7 per cent year-on-year.
Adding more optimism, the Reserve Bank of India data showed foreign exchange
reserves rose by $2.9 billion to $619 billion in the week ended February 23.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 60.80 points or 0.08% to 73,806.15 and the CNX
Nifty was up by 39.65 points or 0.18% to 22,378.40.
The US markets magnified their
previous session's gains and ended higher on Friday with the Nasdaq and S&P
500 once again reaching new record closing highs. A report from the Institute
for Supply Management showed manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly
contracted at an accelerated rate in the month of February. The ISM said its manufacturing
PMI dipped to 47.8 in February from 49.1 in January, with a reading below 50
indicating contraction. Street had expected the index to inch up to 49.5. Also,
the University of Michigan released revised data showing consumer sentiment in
the U.S. unexpectedly deteriorated in the month of February. The report said
the consumer sentiment index for February was downwardly revised to 76.9 from
the previously reported 79.6. Street had expected the reading to be unrevised.
With the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is now
below the January reading of 79.0. The weak data contributed to a downturn by
treasury yields, which added to optimism about the Federal Reserve eventually
cutting interest rates. Meanwhile, the surge by the Nasdaq partly reflected
substantial strength among computer hardware stocks following upbeat results
from Dell (DELL), with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring by 6.9
percent to a record closing high. Shares of Dell skyrocketed by 31.6 percent
after the computer maker reported fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst
estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Crude oil futures settled at a
four-month high on Friday, buoyed by the Energy Information Administration's
report that oil demand surged to a four-year high in 2023 and demand will hold
near that level through this year. Optimism about an interest rate cut by the
Federal Reserve in June also contributed to the jump in oil prices. Investors
await an OPEC+ decision on supply agreements for the second quarter. The group
is likely to extend its production cuts through the second quarter and possibly
the end of 2024. Escalating tensions in the Middle East also added to the rise
in the crude oil prices. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery rose
$1.71 or about 2.2% to settle at $79.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery was up by $1.71 or about 2.1% to
$83.94 per barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended lower against
the dollar on Friday amid rising crude oil prices in the overseas market and
increased demand for the American currency from importers. Sentiments were down
beat as eight core industries growth slowed to a 15-month low of 3.6 per cent
in January 2024, on account of poor performance of sectors like refinery
products and fertilizer. In December 2023, core sector growth had printed in at
4.9 percent. In January 2023, the core sector had grown by 9.7 per cent. On the
global front, the yen slipped against the dollar on Friday after Bank of Japan
governor Kazuo Ueda said it was too soon to declare victory on pulling
inflation up to a desired level. Meanwhile, the dollar was little changed
against its other major peers, bitcoin took a breather after surging last
month, and China's yuan dipped after weak manufacturing data. Finally, the
rupee ended at 82.91 (Provisional), weaker by 2 paise from its previous close
of 82.89 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday'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 57371.12 crore against gross
selling of Rs 53169.81 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was
of Rs 1267.21 crore with gross sales of Rs 1400.96 crore. Besides, in the
hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 101.26 crore against gross selling
of Rs 63.60 crore.
The US markets ended higher on
Friday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress
on March 6 and 7. Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday ahead of China's
2024 growth expectation figure later in the week. Indian markets ended
Saturday's special trading session on a positive note, backed by strong gains
in metal stocks. Today, markets are likely to get flat-to-positive start
tracking mixed cues from Asian counterparts. Some support will come with a
private report that Inflation in goods and services other than fuel and food is
likely to remain low, around 3% in the near term, owing to weak rural demand,
softness in housing inflation and lower input cost pressures. Traders will be
taking encouragement as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that sales
of listed private non-financial companies grew 5.5 per cent in the three months
ended December 2023 from 4.4 per cent expansion in the previous quarter. Traders
may take note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that
the outcome of the 13th ministerial conference of the WTO was good and India is
completely satisfied as the country continues to retain its full policy space
to protect the interests of farmers and fishermen in every respect. Market
participants continue to take support with the finance ministry's statement
that India collected Rs 1.68 lakh crore in goods and services tax (GST) in
February, 12.5 percent more than the year-ago period. The latest GST figure,
which has come in above the Rs 1.5-lakh-crore mark for the 12th month in a row,
takes the average monthly collection in 2023-24 to Rs 1.67 lakh crore. However,
upside may remain capped amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 81.87 crore on March 2, provisional
data from the NSE showed. Some cautiousness may come as oil prices slightly
rose in Asian trade on Monday after the OPEC+ maintained its current pace of
production cuts until the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance
said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be inaugurating the
national conference of Goods and Services Tax enforcement chiefs. The one-day
national conference will be held aiming to strengthen the enforcement mechanism
in GST. Stocks related to semiconductor industry will be in focus as IT and
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India will, in next five years, join the
high-stake global stage of semiconductor manufacturing as it combines
unparalleled design capabilities with $10 billion of incentives to draw
manufacturers to set up new fabs and units that will cut dominance of Taiwan,
South Korea and China. There will be
some reaction in infrastructure industry stocks as the finance ministry said
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman virtually launched seven infrastructure
projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
22,378.40
|
22,357.11
|
22,409.61
|
BSE
Sensex
|
73,806.15
|
73,724.62
|
73,941.18
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
216.43
|
155.35
|
152.16
|
157.36
|
Tata
Motors
|
17.84
|
989.00
|
982.84
|
993.89
|
State
Bank of India
|
11.59
|
773.70
|
769.40
|
777.50
|
Coal
India
|
10.85
|
448.55
|
446.66
|
450.21
|
ITC
|
9.78
|
412.00
|
410.46
|
413.16
|
- Cipla has completed the transfer
of Generics Business Undertaking as a going concern on a slump sale basis to
Cipla Pharma and Life Sciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.
- Eicher Motors and Volvo Group's
JV company -- VE Commercial Vehicles has posted 1.9% rise in total sales at
7424 units in February 2024 as compared to the same month last year.
- Tech Mahindra has signed MoU with
Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison at Mobile World Congress 2024 to build Garuda, a
Large Language Model.
- ICICI Bank has bought an
additional 25.14 lakh shares of ICICI Lombard General Insurance for Rs 431
crore.