Extending their winning streak to second straight session, Indian equity Benchmarks showcased an enthusiastic performance on Monday, by rallying over two percent in the session and settling above the psychological 18,050 (Nifty) and 60,600 (Sensex) levels. The key benchmark indices opened on an upbeat note boosted by intense buying in banking and financial stocks after the announcement of merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank.  Investors' morale was also boosted with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar's statement that India is on the cusp of a major economic recovery and talks of possible stagflation are 'overhyped' as a strong economic foundation is being laid with the reforms carried out by the government over the last seven years. Traders also got some encouragement with the Commerce and Industry Ministry in its latest data has indicated that India's merchandise exports spurt to a record high of $418 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal on higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gem and jewellery and chemicals. Buying got intensified in second half of the session, taking support from the finance ministry's statement that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection soared to an all-time high of Rs 1.42 lakh crore in March 2022 as the fiscal year-end frenzy to meet targets saw strong sales and crackdown on evasions brought in more taxes. The GST collection rose 15 percent annually in March. Some solace also came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India continues to remain the highest receiver of the FDI, and the Indian retail investors have created the capacity to absorb the shock due to outflow of foreign funds from the country's stock markets. Traders overlooked report indicated that Indian manufacturing activity eased in the month of March, on the account of slower expansions in factory orders and production as well as a renewed decline in new export orders. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 54.0 in March from 54.9 in February. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1335.05 points or 2.25% to 60,611.74 and the CNX Nifty was up by 382.95 points or 2.17% to 18,053.40.

The US markets ended in green on Monday, adding to the gains posted in the previous session, as traders shook off recession fears and bought technology shares that were beaten up in the first quarter. Tech shares, which were among the hardest-hit sectors in the first quarter, rose on Monday after one social media stock got a major endorsement from a notable entrepreneur and investor in Elon Musk. Twitter shares surged more than 27% following news that Musk purchased a 9.2% passive stake in the company. It was the biggest pop in Twitter's history since its IPO as investors speculated Musk's move could lead to a buyout or other major changes, even if the stake is passive. Musk's main stock also had a big day with Tesla shares gaining 5.6% on the back of its latest quarterly electric vehicle delivery figures, which came in above the year-earlier period. Technology companies including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Nvidia were also up more than 2%. US-listed Chinese tech stocks, including Alibaba and JD.com, also rallied. On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods decreased in line with street estimates in the month of February. The Commerce Department said factory orders fell by 0.5 percent in February after surging by an upwardly revised 1.5 percent in January. Street had expected factory orders to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.4 percent jump originally reported for the previous month. The pullback in factory orders came as durable goods orders tumbled by 2.1 percent in February following a 1.5 percent spike in January. On the other hand, the report showed orders for non-durable goods shot up by 1.2 percent in February after jumping by 1.5 percent in January.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Monday as Western nations called for new sanctions against Russia after Ukraine said Russian troops carried out a massacre in the town of Bucha, outside the capital Kyiv, killing hundreds of civilians. Western nations have called for a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas. U.S. President Joe Biden has called for a war crimes trial against Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he would seek more sanctions after reported atrocities in Ukraine. Besides, Saudi Aramco's decision to raise its official selling price for crude also contributed to the sharp increase in oil prices. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery rose $4.01 or 4 percent to settle at $103.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery gained $2.20 or 2.1 percent to settle at $106.59 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Monday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters and firm trend in domestic equities. Sentiments were upbeat as India's merchandise exports spurt to a record high of $418 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal on higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gem and jewellery and chemicals. Adding more optimism, the Finance Ministry said Gross GST collection in March touched an all-time high of over Rs 1.42 trillion. Traders shrugged off report that S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined to 54.0 in March from 54.9 in February. On the global front, sterling gained versus the euro on Monday as traders continue to bet on a rapid pace of interest rate rises from the Bank of England. Finally, the rupee ended at 75.53 (Provisional), stronger by 21 paise from its previous close of 75.74 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Monday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 25363.69 crore against gross selling of Rs 16686.25 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 154.10 crore against gross sales of Rs 335.32 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 37.47 crore against gross selling of Rs 47.55 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Monday led by tech shares, mainly Twitter after Elon Musk revealed holding a 9 per cent stake in the social media giant. Asian markets are trading mixed on Tuesday as investors look ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest rate decision. Indian markets ended sharply higher on Monday driven by financial majors HDFC Bank and HDFC after they announced a merger deal, in what would become a mega banking entity in India. Today, the markets are likely to continue their previous session's rally with optimistic start following broadly positive global cues. Traders may take note of a report that the government is committed to supplying fertilisers at affordable prices to farmers with required subsidies despite rising international market rates due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, huge procurements by China and other global factors, which may push the annual fertiliser subsidy to up to Rs 2 lakh crore in the current financial year. However, rising petrol and diesel prices may dent sentiments in markets. As per a private report, petrol and diesel prices have been hiked by 80 paise a litre each on April 05, taking the total increase in the last two weeks to Rs 9.20 per litre. This is the 13th increase in prices in the last 15 days since the end of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision. Traders may be concerned as the government data showed that India's trade deficit rose 87.5 percent to $192.41 billion in 2021-22 as against $ 102.63 billion in the previous year.. Meanwhile, to curb possible misuse of Power of Attorney (PoA) given by clients to stock brokers, Sebi came out with fresh guidelines wherein execution of a new document will be made compulsory for transfer of securities towards deliveries and settlements. There will be some buzz in the sugar industry stocks as industry body ISMA said India's sugar export may touch 85 lakh tonne in the ongoing 2021-22 marketing year ending September. It added while the country has contracted 72 lakh tonne of sugar export, the physical exports have been around 56-57 lakh tonne till March-end this year.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Housing Development Finance Corporation has received approval from board of directors to merge with HDFC Bank. 
• L&T, IOC and ReNew Power have signed binding term sheet for the formation of a JV company to develop the nascent green hydrogen sector in India. 
• HCL Technologies has completed acquisition of 100% stake in Starschema, a leading provider of data engineering services, based in Budapest, Hungary. 
• Tata Motors has delivered 712 EVs in Maharashtra and Goa on one single day (April 2, 2022).