Snapping a
three-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday, led
by a strong buying support in the index heavyweights ITC, Mahindra &
Mahindra and Dr. Reddy's Lab. After making positive start, key indices swung
between losses and gains, as traders got anxious with the finance ministry said
the current elevated level of international crude price, should it persist for
a long time, may come in the way of India achieving a real economic growth rate
of 8%-plus in FY23 and pose upside risks to inflation as well. But, markets
rallied sharply in afternoon deals, as the monetary policy committee (MPC)
decided to hold repo rate at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%. While the
RBI's rate-setting panel maintained its accommodative stance, it also voted
unanimously to focus on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation
remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth. Sentiments
were also upbeat as RBI Governor Bimal Jalan has said that the country's
economy is in good shape as India's GDP growth rate and foreign exchange
reserve are high. Notwithstanding economic uncertainties triggered by the
Russia-Ukraine war that is also impacting the global supply chain, Jalan said
it is not going to affect India's economic performance. Some solace also came
with a private report that with the e-way bills generated for inter-state trade
in goods under the goods and services tax (GST) regime touching a record in
March, the monthly GST collections will likely hit an all-time high of around
Rs 1.5 trillion in April (March transactions). Adding to the optimism, Revenue
Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said India's tax collections soared to a record high
of Rs 27.07 lakh crore in the fiscal year ended March 31 (FY22) compares with
budget estimate of Rs 22.17 lakh crore. The rise in tax collections was mainly
on account of jump in mop-up from income and other direct taxes as well as
indirect taxes. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 412.23 points or 0.70% to
59,447.18 and the CNX Nifty was up by 144.80 points or 0.82% to 17,784.35.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Friday. Considerable weakness among semiconductor stocks weighed on the
Nasdaq, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbled by 2.4 percent.
Airline, networking and tobacco stocks also moved to the downside on the day,
offsetting the strength in the resource sectors. However, Home Depot (HD)
helped lead the Dow higher on the day, while financial giants Goldman Sachs
(GS) and JPMorgan (JPM) also posted strong gains amid a continued increase in
treasury yields. Energy stocks also moved sharply higher on the day, benefiting
from a significant increase by the price of crude oil. On the economic data
front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed wholesale
inventories in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of February.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories spiked by 2.5 percent in
February after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in January. Street
had expected wholesale inventories to shoot up by 2.1 percent compared to the
0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. Next week,
traders are likely to keep a close eye on reports on consumer and producer
price inflation, retail sales and industrial production. The data may impact
the outlook for interest rates amid recent indications the Federal Reserve
plans to tighten monetary policy more aggressively than previously anticipated.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Friday. Trading during the day remained choppy but dying hour buying due to
short covering ahead of the weekend, supported the oil prices. According to a
report released by Baker Hughes, the number of oil rigs in the United States
went up by thirteen to 546 in the week ending April 8 compared to the previous
week. The number of US gas rigs rose by three to 141 in the week, while the
total number of rigs in the country reached 689 after a rise of sixteen rigs.
The number of oil rigs has gone up by 209 compared to the same period a year
earlier. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery rose $2.2 or 2.3 percent
to settle at $98.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude
for June delivery surged $2.06 or 2.05 percent to settle at $102.64 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Reversing previous session
losses, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Friday amid Reserve Bank
of India maintaining status quo on the benchmark lending rate. RBI Governor
Shaktikanta Das-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided unanimously to
keep the repo rate unchanged at 4%. This is the first monetary policy for FY23.
The rate remained unchanged for the eleventh time in a row. The MPC also
decided to continue with its accommodative stance of policy. Traders also took
support with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' statement that the Indian economy
has large forex reserves and that it stands ready and resolute to defend the
economy. On the global front, dollar index strengthened to 100 for the first
time in nearly two years on Friday, supported by the prospect of a more
aggressive pace of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Finally, the rupee
ended at 75.93 (Provisional), stronger by 10 paise from its previous close of
76.03 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 9541.48 crore against gross selling of Rs 14036.24 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 518.82 crore against
gross sales of Rs 749.29 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 2.18 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.64 crore.
The US markets ended mostly lower
on Friday as investors assessed the economic outlook with the Fed moving to
fight inflation. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Monday as investors
awaited central bank meetings lined up during the course of the week. Indian
markets resumed an up move on Friday after three days of losses, as investors
cheered the RBI's status quo on key interest rates and policy stance at its
first review of FY23 as expected. Today, the markets are likely to start
holiday shortened week in red amid weak global cues and the on-going
Russia-Ukraine conflict. Investors awaited the onset of the corporate earnings
season with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) due to report its financial results
for the March quarter after market hours today. Traders will be concerned as
the Reserve Bank data showed that in the steepest weekly fall ever, India's
forex reserves slid by $11.173 billion to $606.475 billion as the currency came
under pressure due to geopolitical developments. There will be some
cautiousness as Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj warned that FY23 was unlikely to
see a rate of growth in tax collections similar to that in FY22. The revenue
secretary added that the finance ministry would get a better picture of the
situation once the first installment of advance tax collections was received in
mid-June. However, some respite may come later in the day as preliminary data
of the commerce ministry showed that India's exports grew by 37.57 per cent to
$9.32 billion during April 1-7. Imports during the period rose by 8.29 per cent
to $10.54 billion. There will be some buzz in auto industry stocks as data
compiled by automobile dealers' body FADA showed that electric vehicle retail
sales in the country witnessed over three-fold jump last fiscal with
two-wheeler offtake leading the segment. Power stocks will be in focus with
report that total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution companies
(discoms) to power producers increased by 17.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs
1,23,244 crore in April 2022. There will be some reaction in media and
entertainment industry stocks as a report by the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) showed that the media and entertainment industry in South India
is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent making a
post-crisis comeback.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,784.35
|
17,642.35
|
17,884.55
|
BSE
Sensex
|
59,447.18
|
58,997.54
|
59,775.62
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
378.26
|
268.75
|
260.21
|
273.06
|
HDFC Bank
|
206.28
|
1,516.55
|
1,500.65
|
1,529.10
|
Coal India
|
201.51
|
194.50
|
191.64
|
198.09
|
NTPC
|
175.85
|
152.50
|
150.84
|
154.54
|
Tata Motors
|
163.15
|
452.25
|
449.21
|
455.76
|
Axis Bank has signed a PGFA with ADB to support supply chain financing for impact sectors, under which ADB will provide guarantees (variable) to the lending done by Axis Bank.
HDFC Bank's total advances, including all loans to various customers in retail, corporate, MSME and microfinance sectors, in Assam stood at Rs 7,008 crore as of December 31, 2021.
The Kolkata bench of the NCLT has approved the resolution plan submitted by Tata Steel's wholly-owned subsidiary --TSML for the acquisition of debt-laden Rohit Ferro-Tech.
JSW Steel has posted a combined crude steel production of 5.98 MT for Q4FY22, including the production at jointly controlled entity viz. JSW Ispat Special Products.