Indian equity
benchmarks settled lower for fourth straight session on Friday led by losses in
auto, metal and banking stocks. Weakness in global markets also weighed on
investor sentiment. Markets made negative start and stayed in red for most part
of the day, as traders were concerned with report that India registered 12,643
fresh Covid-19 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Active cases in
India stand at 137,866, while the caseload tally has risen to 10,962,189. The
country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 17th among
worst-hit nations by active cases. Traders took a note of Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India's inflation target band of 2-6 per
cent is up for review as the five-year term for the Monetary Policy Committee's
(MPC's) inflation-targeting framework draws to a close. Key gauges extended
their losses in late afternoon session, as trades got anxious with report that
PE/VC investments in January 2021 reported a 35 per cent drop to $1.6 billion
from $2.5 billion, a year ago. The number of deals reported also remained flat
at 80. Sentiments remained down-beat amid union ministries of health and civil
aviation released new guidelines for arriving international passengers due to
the increased transmissibility of Brazil, South Africa, and UK variants of
COVID-19. As per the new rules, all passengers traveling to India must get an
RT-PCR test conducted within 72 hours of their flight departure time and the
negative report has to be uploaded before boarding. Traders overlooked report
that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped in a whopping $33.8 billion
into domestic equities and debt till February 15 this fiscal year -- the highest
since FY15 when it was nearly $46 billion -- taking their net outstanding
investments to a record $592.5 billion. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 434.93
points or 0.85% to 50,889.76, while the CNX Nifty was down by 137.20 points or
0.91% to 14,981.75.
The US markets
ended mostly higher on Friday amid continued optimism about more fiscal
stimulus, as new Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged lawmakers to approve
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package. As per a report, Yellen
suggested that the Biden administration's proposal could help the US get back
to full employment within a year. Democrats have been hoping to pass a new
stimulus bill with Republican support but may be forced to use the process
known as reconciliation to approve a relief package without GOP votes. However,
gains remained limited amid a jump in treasury yields, with the yield on the
benchmark ten-year note reading its highest closing level in almost a year. The
recent increase in treasury yields has raised concerns about the outlook for
interest rates amid worries about the prospects of higher inflation. On the
economic data front, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released a
report showing another unexpected increase in US existing home sales in the
month of January. NAR said existing home sales rose by 0.6 percent to an annual
rate of 6.69 million in January after climbing by 0.9 percent to a revised rate
of 6.65 million in December. Compared to the same month a year ago, existing
home sales in January were up by 23.7 percent. The continued growth came as
surprise to market participants, who had expected existing home sales to tumble
by 2.2 percent to a rate of 6.61 million from the 6.76 million originally
reported for the previous month.
Crude oil futures ended
considerably lower on Friday on expectations that crude output shut down by
winter storms in Texas will soon be restored. Oil companies in Texas had shut
down production earlier this week due to extreme cold conditions. Expectations
that major oil producers making up the OPEC+ group will decide as early as next
month to loosen production curbs, as well as early signs of a thaw in US-Iran
relations were also a weighted down on
oil prices. Meanwhile, Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of
active US rigs drilling for oil edged down by 1 to 305 this week, implying a
slight slowdown in output to come. That was the first weekly decline since
November. Crude oil futures for March fell $1.28 or 2.1 percent to settle at
$59.24 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude declined
$59.24 or 1.6 percent to settle at $62.91 a barrel on London's Intercontinental
Exchange.
Indian Money market remained
closed on Friday on account of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data were
net buyer in equity segment, while net seller in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8586.86 crore against gross selling of Rs
7396.35 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 450.81
crore with gross sales of Rs 1411.12 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 2.38 crore against gross selling of Rs 42.13 crore.
The US markets ended mostly
higher on Friday as investors hoped a disappointing January jobs report would
increase the likelihood of further stimulus. Asian markets are trading mostly
in green on Monday as expectations for faster economic growth and inflation
globally batter bonds and boost commodities, though rising real yields also
make equity valuations look more stretched in comparison. Indian markets ended
lower for the fourth straight session on Friday amid broad-based selling seen
across all sectors. Losses in banking, auto and metal stocks dragged the
markets the most. Today, the start of new week is likely to be flat-to-positive
note tracking gains in Asian peers. Some support will come with report that
retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased to 2.17 per cent
and 3.25 per cent in January, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items.
Besides, continuing their buying spree, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)
invested Rs 24,965 crore in Indian markets in February so far as various
organisations predicted high economic growth for the country and the Union
Budget boosted investors' sentiment. Meanwhile, investors will be eyeing the
macroeconomic data that is GDP print for the December quarter that is slated to
be out on Friday, February 26, post-market hours. There are expectations that
third-quarter GDP data to show signs of recovery. However, rising Covid cases
to remain a concern. India reported 14,264 new Covid-19 cases with Maharashtra
as the worst hit, following which the government there banned political,
religious and social gatherings and imposed a new lockdown in some areas. There
may be some cautiousness as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said
that a strict lockdown could be implemented in the state and Mumbai if people
don't follow discipline. Thackeray said that imposing a lockdown is necessary
to cut the chain of the COVID-19 infection and added that districts have been
told to impose restrictions as required from February 22. Aviation stocks will
be in focus as Minister of State for Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
said that with domestic air traffic expected to increase further in the coming
summer season, the government may remove the fare band besides lifting other
restrictions. There will be some reaction in fertiliser industry stocks as
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said the credit metrics of fertiliser
manufacturers in general and urea manufacturers in particular are likely to
improve meaningfully in FY22 due to strong likelihood of clearance of subsidy
backlogs after allocation of an additional Rs 62,600 crore fertiliser subsidy
in the revised estimate of FY21. Infrastructure stocks will be in limelight
with report that as many as 448 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150
crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.02 lakh
crore.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
14,981.75
|
14,871.95
|
15,117.80
|
BSE
Sensex
|
50,889.76
|
50,531.73
|
51,340.39
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Motors
|
802.74
|
311.85
|
301.51
|
322.06
|
Gail
(India)
|
696.53
|
145.40
|
142.79
|
148.74
|
State
Bank of India
|
661.55
|
399.55
|
391.36
|
411.36
|
NTPC
|
610.69
|
104.20
|
101.49
|
106.84
|
Oil
& Natural Gas Corporation
|
610.69
|
105.10
|
101.90
|
110.25
|
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