In a volatile
session, Indian equity benchmarks failed to hold on the opening gains and ended
lower for the fourth straight session on Thursday, as concerns over fading rate
cut hopes and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East dampened investors'
sentiment. Markets made a positive
start, as traders got support after the International Monetary Fund raised
India's FY25 GDP growth forecast by 30 bps to 6.8 percent from its January
forecast of 6.5 percent, citing bullish domestic demand conditions and a rising
working-age population. With this, India continues to be the fastest growing
economy of the world, ahead of China's growth projection of 4.6 percent during
the same period. Some support also came with UN Trade and Development's
(UNCTAD) report stating that India grew by 6.7 per cent in 2023 and is expected
to expand by 6.5 per cent in 2024, continuing to be the fastest-growing major
economy in the world. However, markets soon erased their initial gains to trade
flat in morning deals, as traders got anxious with provisional data from the
NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth
Rs 4,468.09 crore on April 16, 2024. But, markets gained traction in early
afternoon deals, taking support from industry body PHDCCI's statement that
India's economy is estimated to grow at 8-8.3 per cent in the current fiscal.
It added that the country's GDP will grow at an average of 6.7 per cent over
the next 23 years to become a $34.7 trillion economy by 2047, with a per capita
income of $21,000. But, a sharp selloff occurred during the last hours of the
trade and the markets closed in the red as some pessimism remained among
traders with former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan
expressing concerns regarding India's employment situation, despite the economy
displaying signs of growth. He highlighted the necessity of tackling the
scarcity of private sector jobs, noting the rising trend of individuals opting
for government employment as a significant indicator. Finally, the BSE Sensex
fell 454.69 points or 0.62% to 72,488.99 and the CNX Nifty was down by 152.05
points or 0.69% points to 21,995.85.
The US markets ended mostly in
red on Thursday amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.
Potentially adding to the interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal
Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth
in regional manufacturing activity in the month of April. The Philly Fed said
its diffusion index for current general activity jumped to 15.5 in April from
3.2 in March, with a positive reading indicating growth. Street had expected
the index to edge down to 1.5. Notably, the report also said the prices paid
index surged to 23.0 in April from 3.7 in May, reaching its highest reading
since December 2023. Meanwhile, the Labor Department also released a report
showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits remained flat in the
week ended April 13th. The report said initial jobless claims came in at
212,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. Street had expected
jobless claims to rise to 215,000 from the 211,000 originally reported for the
previous week. However, the early strength on MJarkets partly reflected bargain
hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels
following recent weakness. On the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks came
under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index down by 1.7 percent to its lowest closing level in almost
two months. U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) have
tumbled by 4.9 percent even though the chipmaker reported better than expected
first quarter results.
Crude oil futures ended slightly
higher on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on
recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. A private report
said that oil demand has been running 200,000 barrels per day below their
forecast since April. Meanwhile, oil prices found some support thanks to
renewed US sanctions on Venezuela's oil exports. The U.S. said it would not
renew a license set to expire on Thursday that had broadly eased Venezuela oil
sanctions, moving to reimpose punitive measures in response to President
Nicolas Maduro's failure to meet his election commitments. Benchmark crude oil
futures for May delivery rose $0.04 or 0.04% to settle at $82.73 a barrel on
the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, Brent crude for June delivery
declined $0.18 or 0.20% to $87.11 per barrel on London's Intercontinental
Exchange.
Indian rupee ended higher on
Thursday as the American currency and Brent crude oil prices retreated from
their elevated levels. Sentiments got a boost as the International Monetary
Fund raised India's FY25 GDP growth forecast by 30 bps to 6.8 percent from its
January forecast of 6.5 percent, citing bullish domestic demand conditions and
a rising working-age population. With this, India continues to be the fastest
growing economy of the world, ahead of China's growth projection of 4.6 percent
during the same period. Besides, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its
report said that India grew by 6.7 per cent in 2023 and is expected to expand
by 6.5 per cent in 2024, continuing to be the fastest-growing major economy in
the world. On the global front, the dollar fell for a second day on Thursday
after a rare warning by the finance chiefs of the United States, Japan and
Korea over the sharp decline in other currencies, which in turn offered the yen
some rare respite. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.52 (Provisional), stronger by
9 paise from its previous close of 83.61 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 10993.53 crore against gross selling of Rs 14258.26 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1304.38 crore with
gross sales of Rs 4667.51 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 28.87 crore against gross selling of Rs 27.53 crore.
The US markets ended mostly in
red on Thursday swinging from red to green and back as investors contended with
the push-pull of a strong economy and restrictive Federal Reserve policy. Asian
markets are trading lower on Friday despite Japan's headline inflation rate
came in at 2.7% in March, easing from the 2.8% recorded in February. Indian
markets extended their losing streak to fourth straight session and ended with
cut of over half a percent each on Thursday on account of fag end selling
pressure. Today, markets are likely to extend their losing streak with gap-down
opening following reports of explosions in Iran and Syria. As per a private
report, Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, days after Iran launched a
drone strike on Israel in response to an attack at the Iranian embassy in
Syria. The report said an explosion were heard at an airport in the Iranian
city of Isfahan but the cause was not immediately known. Traders will be
concerned as the escalations in tensions have also resulted in a sharp surge in
crude oil prices with Brent Crude back above the $90 per barrel mark in early
trade. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,260.33 crore on April 18,
provisional data from the NSE showed. Moreover, first phase of the Lok Sabha
elections of 2024 will be on investors' radar. Traders may take note of report
that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said all necessary steps
required to mitigate the fallout of the Israel-Iran conflict on India will be
taken. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will delegate
administrative and supervisory responsibilities of research analysts (RAs) and
investment advisors (IAs) to a stock exchange along with many other non-core
functions like approval of advertisements and scrutiny of applications. There
will be some reaction in mining, construction equipment industry's stocks as
rating agency ICRA said the volumes of domestic mining and the construction
equipment (MCE) industry may drop in the current financial year on account of a
slowdown in the new project orders amidst Lok Sabha elections and
monsoon-related impact on construction activities. ICRA expects FY2025 to see a
12-15 per cent year-on-year decline. This drop is following two consecutive
years of strong growth of 26 per cent in FY'23 and 24 per cent in FY'24.
Meanwhile, investors continue to keep close on earning of India Inc. Elecon
Engineering, HDFC AMC, Hindustan Zinc, Jio Financials and Wipro to report their
numbers later in the day. Alok
Industries, HDFC Bank, Ind Bank Housing, International Travel House and
Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy are scheduled to announce March quarter
results on Saturday. Moreover, The National Stock Exchange (NSE) announced that
it will launch derivatives contracts for the Nifty Next 50 index from April 24
following approval from the Sebi, amid rising competitive pressure from rival
BSE.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
21,995.85
|
21,862.86
|
22,227.66
|
BSE
Sensex
|
72,488.99
|
72,078.75
|
73,186.13
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
680.94
|
161.20
|
158.90
|
163.75
|
Power
Grid
|
510.40
|
281.30
|
276.04
|
288.24
|
ONGC
|
341.36
|
275.00
|
269.66
|
284.01
|
NTPC
|
229.67
|
353.40
|
347.99
|
360.04
|
Infosys
|
221.08
|
1429.50
|
1409.76
|
1446.96
|
- Infosys has collaborated with
Proximus, Belgium's leading digital services and communications solutions
provider, on the ServiceNow platform.
- ITC's wholly owned subsidiary --
ITC Infotech India has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement for acquisition
of 100% of the share capital of Blazeclan Technologies.
- Adani Enterprises' step-down
subsidiary -- Mumbai Travel Retail has completed the incorporation process of a
JV company namely KING POWER OSPREE PTE.
- Mahindra & Mahindra has
unveiled the Bolero Neo+ 9-seater, offered in two variants - the P4 and the
premium P10.