Extending their
losses to third day, Indian equity benchmarks ended lower by around half
percent on Friday dragged by Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and FMCG shares.
Markets made slightly positive start but failed to hold gains and soon slipped
below natural lines, as UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its
latest report has downgraded India's economic growth by over 2 per cent to 4.6
percent for 2022 from earlier forecast of 6.7 percent. A decrease has been
attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with New Delhi expected to face
restraints on energy access and prices, reflexes from trade sanctions, food
inflation, tightening policies and financial instability. The report also
downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6 percent from
3.6 percent due to shocks from the Ukraine war and changes in macroeconomic
policies that put developing countries particularly at risk. Some cautiousness
also came a private report stated that after crossing the $550-billion mark in
the first 11 months of the financial year, India's import bill is set to hit
record highs in FY22 and probably touch $600 billion. Key gauges added losses
in late afternoon deals, as anxiety remained among traders with S&P Global
Ratings in its report said rising commodity prices, further triggered by the
Russia-Ukraine war, could moderate healthy recovery of the country's economy,
and put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to normalise its monetary
policy faster than anticipated. Traders were also worried as foreign
institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market as
they sold shares worth Rs 1,740.71 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed.
However, markets managed to trim some losses in final minutes of trade as
traders took some support with the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
indicated that employment in the country has increased by 22 per cent in the
past seven years since 2013-14. As per PLFS, the rise in employment in IT,
healthcare and eduction sectors reflects that employment opportunities were
generated through various government programmes. Meanwhile, the government has
proposed to tighten the norms for taxation of cryptocurrencies by disallowing
set off of any losses with gains from other virtual digital assets. Finally,
the BSE Sensex fell 233.48 points or 0.41% to 57,362.20 and the CNX Nifty was
down by 69.75 points or 0.40% to 17,153.00.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Friday following choppy trade, after oil prices rebounded on the back
of reports of a missile strike on a Saudi Aramco facility and as investors
continued to weigh rising interest rates. Meanwhile, the European Union signed
an agreement for the supply of liquefied natural gas to reduce reliance on
Russian supply. On the sectoral front, substantial strength was visible among
natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 4.8 percent spike by the NYSE Arca
Natural Gas Index. The index reached its best closing level in almost five
years amid a sharp increase by the price of natural gas. Airline stocks also
turned in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 1.8 percent jump by
the NYSE Arca Airline Index. On the economic data front, the National
Association of Realtors (NAR) released a report showing pending home sales
unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of February. NAR said its
pending home sales index tumbled by 4.1 percent to 104.9 in February after plunging
by 5.8 percent to a revised 109.4 in January. The continued decrease came as a
surprise to participants, who had expected the index to rebound by 1.0 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed.
Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. Meanwhile,
revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment
in the U.S. fell by more than initially estimated in the month of March. The
report showed the consumer sentiment index for March was downwardly revised to
59.4 from the preliminary reading of 59.7. Street had expected the index to be
unrevised.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Friday lifted by news about a missile strike at an oil storage depot in Saudi
Arabian city Jeddah. The attack was reportedly launched by Yemeni Houthi
rebels. However, oil prices dropped earlier in the day amid easing concerns
about supply following the partial resumption of exports from Kazakhstan's CPC
terminal. An announcement from US President Joe Biden and the European
Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen about a US-EU deal to replace
Russian natural gas imports by US LNG weighed as well on oil prices early on in
the session. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery rose $1.56 or 1.4
percent to settle at $113.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for May delivery gained $1.07 or 0.9 percent to settle at $120.10 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Rising for the second consecutive
day, Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Friday, on weak dollar demand
in overseas markets. Traders took some solace with commerce ministry statement
that India and the United Kingdom have concluded the second round of talks for
the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), which aims at further strengthening
the economic ties. The third round of negotiations is due to be hosted by India
in April. On the global front, euro was edging higher on Friday, but concerns
about a potential slowdown of the economy kept it in a tight range, while the
dollar weakened as investors priced in the expected monetary tightening from
the Federal Reserve. Finally, the rupee ended at 76.24 (Provisional), stronger
by 9 paise from its previous close of 76.33 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 13104.11 crore against gross selling of Rs 14451.44 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 571.14 crore against
gross sales of Rs 685.67 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 6.38 crore against gross selling of Rs 8.60 crore.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Friday as financial shares rose after the benchmark Treasury yield
jumped to its highest level in nearly three years. Asian markets are trading
mixed on Monday as coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai looked set to hit global
activity, while throwing another wrench into supply chains that could add to
inflationary pressures. Indian markets failed to make it to the green in yet
another choppy session on Friday, closing lower for the third day in a row.
Today, the markets are likely to make slightly positive start amid mixed global
cues. Volatility may remain in the markets during this week due to the monthly
expiry of March derivative contracts and developments around the Russia-Ukraine
war. The two sides will likely hold talks again between March 28-30 in Turkey.
Some support will come as Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said India can
double its economy in about 7-8 years if it grows at 8 per cent, which is
feasible as the country has sustained a growth rate of 8.5 per cent earlier for
a long time. Also, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said 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.
Traders may take note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's
statement that the free trade agreement between India and the UAE is likely to
come into effect from May 1 this year, 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. There will be some
cautiousness 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. Traders may be concerned as India's foreign
exchange (forex) reserves dipped by $2.59 billion in the week ended March 18,
recording a sharp drop for the second consecutive week as the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) heavily sold dollars to prevent slide in the value of rupee. There
will be some buzz in the sugar industry stocks as the government said India's
sugar export is estimated to rise by 7 per cent to 75 lakh tonnes in 2021-22
marketing year ending September. Agriculture industry stocks will be in focus
as India's agricultural and processed food products exports are set to exceed
the target of $23 billion in FY22 thanks to a sharp spike in shipments of rice,
wheat, fresh & processed fruits and vegetables, and livestock products.
There will be some reaction in coal industry stocks as the government data
showed India's imports of non-cooking coal fell to 125.61 million tons during
April-January period of the current financial year, which is 23.33 per cent
lower when compared with the 163.85 million tons recorded in the corresponding
period of last fiscal.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,153.00
|
17,054.74
|
17,273.09
|
BSE
Sensex
|
57,362.20
|
57,026.51
|
57,771.64
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
292.84
|
252.70
|
249.39
|
255.89
|
JSW Steel
|
161.21
|
719.00
|
710.66
|
726.91
|
ICICI Bank
|
152.63
|
701.55
|
696.76
|
706.21
|
Tata Motors
|
151.04
|
432.40
|
427.70
|
437.05
|
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation
|
136.08
|
175.50
|
173.99
|
178.14
|
Tata Motors, in partnership with PPS Motors, has inaugurated a new state-of-the-art dealership at Pallikarnai - in the city of Chennai.
Bharti Airtel has paid Rs 8,815 crore to the Department of Telecom towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in auction of year 2015.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched Kotak FYN, its new enterprise portal exclusive for Business Banking and Corporate clients.
SEBI has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Axis Bank for violation of merchant banker regulations.