Indian equity benchmarks
experienced significant volatility throughout the day but finally ended with
gains on Wednesday led by index heavyweights Indusind Bank, Power Grid
Corporation and Bajaj Finance. Markets made a positive start but soon wiped out
gains and traded with negative bias, as traders restrained from taking any long
position ahead of upcoming macro-economic data. Some concern came as Automobile
dealers' body the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) raised
the issue of unauthorised multi-brand outlets (MBOs) in the two-wheeler
industry, which are not certified as bona fide dealers and sell unregistered
vehicles without any trade certificates or after-sales services. This has
caused many legitimate two-wheeler dealerships to shut down, making their
businesses unviable. Despite volatility in afternoon, key gauges remained
positive for the most part of the session, taking support from a report that
the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has transformed the
partnership between the two countries by promoting two-way commerce at a
healthy rate. Sentiments were positive, amid a report by industry body FISME
stating that steps such as increasing awareness, easier documentation,
simplified customs processes and standard operating practice for product
returns would help in promoting the country's exports through e-commerce
medium. Markets added some gains in late afternoon deals, as traders found some
solace with a private report that India's consumer inflation likely cooled to
an 18-month low in April as rises in food and fuel prices moderated, keeping it
below the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance limit for the second
consecutive month. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 178.87 points or 0.29% to
61,940.20 and the CNX Nifty was up by 49.15 points or 0.27% to 18,315.10.
The US markets ended mostly in
green on Wednesday amid a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly
anticipated report on consumer price inflation in the month of April. The Labor
Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in April after
inching up by 0.1 percent in March. Street had expected consumer prices to rise
by 0.4 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices also
rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the increase seen in March as well as
street estimates. The report also showed the annual rate of consumer price
growth edged down to 4.9 percent in April from 5.0 percent in March. Street had
expected the year-over-year growth to be unchanged. The annual rate of core
consumer price growth also slipped to 5.5 percent in April from 5.6 percent in
March. The modest slowdown matched street estimates. With the annual consumer
price growth marking the smallest 12-month increase since April 2021, the data
added to optimism about the Federal Reserve pausing its interest rate hikes. CME
Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 99.1 percent chance the Federal
Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting in June. Buying
interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders worry the slowdown in the
pace of price growth is partly due to the U.S. heading for a recession. On the
sectoral front, Software stocks turned in a strong performance on the day,
resulting in a 1.7 percent jump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. With the
gain, the index reached its best closing level in over a year. Semiconductor
and biotechnology stocks also saw notable strength, contributing to the advance
by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the other hand, steel stocks saw considerable
weakness amid concerns about global demand, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index
down by 1.4 percent. Oil service stocks also moved to the downside, with a
steep drop by the price of oil weighing on the sector following the release of
a report showing an unexpected weekly increase in U.S. crude oil inventories.
Crude oil futures ended
significantly lower on Wednesday following the release of a report from the
Energy Information Administration showing an unexpected increase in U.S. crude
oil inventories in the week ended May 5th. The report said crude oil
inventories climbed by 3.0 million barrels after falling by 1.3 million barrels
in the previous week. Economists had expected inventories to dip by 0.9 million
barrels. Meanwhile, the EIA said gasoline inventories declined by 3.2 million barrels
for the week, while distillate fuel inventories tumbled by 4.2 million barrels.
Benchmark crude oil futures for June delivery fell $1.15 or 1.6 percent to
settle at $72.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for
July delivery declined $1.03 or 1.3 percent to settle at $76.41 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian Rupee ended higher against
the US dollar on Wednesday tracking the weakness of the American currency in
the overseas market. Significant foreign fund inflows and easing crude oil
prices also supported the Rupee. Traders took support with a private report that
India's consumer inflation likely cooled to an 18-month low in April as rises
in food and fuel prices moderated, keeping it below the Reserve Bank of India's
upper tolerance limit for the second consecutive month. On the global front,
dollar seesawed on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden and top lawmakers
made no headway in the debt ceiling crisis, although volatility was minimal
ahead of inflation data that could be instrumental in determining where
interest rates head. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.00 (Provisional), stronger
by 6 paise from its previous close of 82.06 on Tuesday.
The FIIs as per Wednesday's data
were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9387.85 crore against gross selling of Rs
7387.07 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 385.83
crore against gross selling of Rs 1328.67 crore. Besides, in the hybrid
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5.84 crore against gross selling of Rs
22.00 crore.
The US markets ended mostly in
green on Wednesday as data showed consumer inflation fell below 5 percent for
the first time in two years. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on
Thursday amid data showing China's consumer price inflation eased further in
April and producer prices remained in deflation. Indian markets recovered from
an early slide and ended modestly higher on Wednesday following last-hour
gains. Today, start of the session is likely to be in green with marginal gains
taking lead from mostly positive cues from the US markets overnight. Foreign
fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. On Wednesday, Foreign
Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought 1833.13 crore in equity segment. Some support
will come as Industry body PHDCCI said enhanced competitiveness of the Indian
economy will attract more investments and create new employment opportunities
for the growing young population in the country. Traders may take note of
report that Union MSME minister Narayan Rane has urged the global and domestic
industries to continue to invest in India, which is on its path to become the
third largest economy. Besides, Comptroller & Auditor General of India
(CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has emphasised that India's resources have to be
efficiently utilised for the country to become a fully developed nation.
Meanwhile, the government has extended the deadline to May 31 for Goods
Transport Agencies to exercise the option of paying GST on forward charge basis
for current fiscal. Under GST, Goods Transport Agencies have the option to
collect and pay GST on forward charge basis. If they do not opt to do so, the
liability to pay the tax gets transferred to the recipient of the service,
under reverse charge mechanism. Agriculture related stocks will be in focus
with report that wheat procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and
state government agencies for the current season has crossed 25.2 million tonne
(MT) so far, up by 30% on year. there will be some reaction in sugar industry
stocks with a private report that sugar production in the 2022-23 season that
started from October is now expected to be around 9 per cent less than last
season due to a drop in recovery and cane output particularly in Maharashtra, which
is one of the biggest growing states. Investors await more of financial results
from India Inc for domestic cues, with Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, Deepak
Nitrite, GSPL, Siemens and Dr Lal Pathlabs due to post their earnings later in
the day.
Support
and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
18,315.10
|
18,242.45
|
18,357.25
|
BSE
Sensex
|
61,940.20
|
61,683.97
|
62,085.39
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ICICI
Bank
|
259.11
|
936.60
|
929.56
|
942.31
|
HDFC
Bank
|
231.70
|
1652.30
|
1638.71
|
1660.26
|
Tata
Steel
|
192.13
|
109.35
|
108.64
|
110.04
|
State
Bank of India
|
185.61
|
572.15
|
565.26
|
577.01
|
Tata
Motors
|
124.81
|
510.05
|
505.30
|
513.85
|
Axis Bank has successfully enabled RuPay Credit Card support on UPI.
Hero MotoCorp's Vida brand has set a new Guinness World Records Title, providing yet another fillip to the electric vehicle industry.
Bharti Airtel has crossed the 2 million unique 5G user mark on its network in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
JSW Steel has reported the crude steel production for the month of April, 2023 at 17.77 lakh tonnes, that grew by 7% as against 16.67 lakh tonnes in April 2022 on standalone basis.