Indian equity
benchmarks ended flat in a volatile session on Friday amid a negative trend in
global markets. Markets made a cautious start and traded range bound throughout
the session as six-member rate-setting panel of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
kept the benchmark interest rates unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the seventh
time in a row. It also expressed concerns over food inflation given IMD's
prediction of above-normal maximum temperatures during April-June. The RBI also
retained GDP growth forecast of 7% for 2024-25 financial year, with June
quarter growth at 7%, and September quarter at 6.9%. In the third and fourth
quarter the growth is expected to be 7% each. This is lower than the 7.6%
expansion estimated for FY24. Markets continued their lackluster trade in late
afternoon deals, as provisional data from the NSE showed foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,136.47 crore on April 4, 2024. Some
cautiousness also came with ICRA's report that growth of the Indian
Securitisation market is set to slow this fiscal year keeping the trend
witnessed in the last quarter of fiscal 2024 as non-banking finance companies
and banks get into co-lending reducing the demand for such papers. However,
markets managed to erase all the losses to end flat as traders found support
with the United Nations stating that India has become the world's
fastest-growing major economy and a bright spot for the Asia-Pacific in 2023
amid strong household consumption and public investment in infrastructure. Some
support also came with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta
Das' statement that the consumption is likely to support economic growth in
2024-25, adding that urban consumption stayed buoyant. He said the resilience
in cement production, together with strong growth in steel consumption and
production and import of capital goods, augur well for the investment cycle to
gain further traction. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 20.59 points or 0.03% to
74,248.22 and the CNX Nifty was down by 0.95 points to 22,513.70.
The US markets ended
significantly higher on Friday as traders looked to pick up stocks at
relatively reduced levels following the steep drop seen during Thursday's
session, which dragged the Dow down to its lowest closing level in a month.
Investors also reacted positively to a closely watched Labor Department report
showing much stronger than expected job growth in the month of March. The Labor
Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 303,000 jobs in March
after surging by a downwardly revised 270,000 jobs in February. Street had
expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 275,000
jobs originally reported for the previous month. The report also said the
unemployment rate edged down to 3.8 percent in March from 3.9 percent in
February, while street had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.
The stronger than expected job growth may have added to recent concerns about
the outlook for interest rates, the report also showed a continued slowdown in
the annual rate of wage growth. The Labor Department said the annual rate of
wage growth slowed to 4.1 percent in March from 4.3 percent in February, in
line with estimates. On the sectoral front, Gold stocks moved sharply higher
following the pullback seen on Thursday, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index
up by 3.3 percent to its best closing level in well over ten months.
Significant strength was also visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the
1.7 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index. Software,
semiconductor and housing stocks also saw considerable strength on the day,
moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Magnifying its recent gains,
crude oil futures ended higher on Friday amid supply worries due to
geopolitical tensions. On the geopolitical front, Iran vowed to retaliate
against Israel's strike on the Iran embassy in Damascus, Syria earlier in the
week. Ongoing Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries also continued to raise
concerns about supplies. Israel has reportedly closed 28 embassies around the
world amid fears of retaliatory strikes from Iran. The decision of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies to keep the
group's production cuts in place continued to support oil prices. Meanwhile, a
report from Baker Hughes said the oil rig count in the U.S. rose by two to 508
this week. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery rose $0.32 or about
0.37% to settle at $86.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent
crude for June delivery gained $0.52 or 0.57% to $91.17 per barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended higher against
the U.S. dollar on Friday as the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary
Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to Keep the policy repo rate under the
liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6.50 per cent for the seventh
consecutive time. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate
remains unchanged at 6.25 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF)
rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75 per cent. On the global front, dollar firmed
against peer currencies on Friday after rebounding from a two-week low, as
traders braced for a key U.S. jobs report due later in the day and grew
cautious over tensions in the Middle East. Safe-haven bids, along with fresh
warnings from Japanese authorities, helped to buoy the yen, which briefly hit a
two-week high against the greenback. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.31
(Provisional), stronger by 8 paise from its previous close of 83.39 on
Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 14011.85 crore against gross selling of Rs 14989.51 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1741.30 crore with
gross sales of Rs 2590.17 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 63.54 crore against gross selling of Rs 19.53 crore.
The US markets ended in green on
Friday after a strong jobs report reinforced the view that the economy remains
healthy even as it suggested the Federal Reserve could delay cutting interest
rates. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday ahead of central
bank decisions this week, with investors also awaiting inflation numbers from
the US and China. Indian markets ended flat on Friday after the Reserve Bank of
India kept repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for a seventh straight policy.
Today, benchmark indices are likely to open in green following broadly positive
cues from global markets. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic
sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs
1,659.27 crore on April 5, provisional data from the NSE showed. Traders will
be taking encouragement as a recent bi-monthly survey conducted by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) from March 2 to March 11, 2024 showed that consumer
confidence in India has soared to its highest level since mid-2019. The survey,
which included 6,083 respondents, with females comprising 50.8 percent of the
sample, revealed a significant uptick in consumer sentiment. Some support will
also come as a latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that
India's foreign exchange reserves rose to a new high for the third straight
week, reaching $645.58 billion in the week ended March 29. The total reserves
rose by $2.95 billion in the previous week. Besides, India Ratings and Research
(Ind-Ra) has put out a report maintaining a neutral outlook on the finances of
Indian states for the fiscal year 2024-2025 (FY25), showing States' aggregate
revenue deficit is projected to be 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)
for FY25, down from 0.5 per cent in FY24. Banking stocks will be in focus as
the Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement showed that Indian
banks' loans rose 20.2% in the two weeks to March 22 from a year earlier, while
deposits rose 13.5%. Outstanding loans rose Rs 1.21 trillion ($14.54 billion)
to Rs 164.35 trillion in the two weeks to March 22. There will be some reaction
in aviation industry stocks with a private report that the average daily
international traffic to and from India decreased by 4.81 per cent
month-on-month (M-o-M) to 196,050 in March as inbound tourism gradually receded
with the onset of the summer season. Automobile industry stocks will be in
limelight with a private report that electric-vehicle sales in India are
expected to rise 66% this year after nearly doubling in 2023 as state subsidies
help fuel demand and supporting infrastructure comes up in the country. The
rapid growth in sales comes at a time when EV growth in other key markets such
as the United States and China are slowing. There will be some reaction in
Healthcare related stocks as Manipal Health Enterprises nears Rs 1,400 crore
deal to acquire Medica. Post-acquisition, Manipal will become India's largest
hospital chain with over 10,700 beds overtaking Apollo Hospitals in the
process.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
22,513.70
|
22,448.34
|
22,558.34
|
BSE
Sensex
|
74,248.22
|
74,009.73
|
74,423.92
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
446.68
|
163.30
|
161.35
|
164.70
|
HDFC
Bank
|
295.28
|
1550.05
|
1535.30
|
1559.65
|
ITC
|
161.47
|
427.50
|
421.06
|
432.81
|
ICICI
Bank
|
153.41
|
1084.00
|
1072.30
|
1090.85
|
ONGC
|
130.30
|
268.10
|
265.76
|
271.16
|
- Indusind Bank has reported 18%
rise in net advances to Rs 3,42,857 crore (Provisional) as of March 31, 2024
(Q4FY24) as compared to Rs 2,89,924 crore in Q4FY23.
- HDFC Bank has sold 27,81,897
shares representing 3.03% of the share capital of Indraprastha Medical
Corporation (Indraprastha).
- Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and
Bayer have entered into a partnership to market and distribute a second brand
of Vericiguat in India.
- Bajaj Finance's new loans booked
during Q4FY24 grew by 4% to 7.87 million (provisional) as compared to 7.56
million in Q4FY23.