Indian equity
benchmarks slipped for the fifth straight session and ended over a percent
lower on Thursday, as a rise in US bond yields spooked investors. Besides, a
single-day increase of over 35,800 Covid-19 cases, the highest since December
6, 2020, made market participants question the sustainability of the economic
recovery. Domestic indices made gap-up opening, as traders took encouragement
with former chief of Shanghai-based New Development Bank, K V Kamath expressed
optimism that India's sovereign rating would go up on the back of efforts being
taken by the government to push economic reforms. Some support also came after
a parliamentary panel has suggested to the Department of Commerce to take appropriate
measures to check further deterioration in exports and crucial imports for
preventing more disruptions in the supply chains. Traders also took note of
report that Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said India and the UAE discussed
ways to strengthen energy cooperation, despite the nation asking its refiners
to reduce their reliance on Middle Eastern oil. But, domestic indices gave up
all intra-day gains and fell sharply lower in late afternoon session, as some
concern came with a joined survey carried out by FICCI-IBA has stated that
asset quality of banks, which saw some improvement in the second half of 2020,
is likely to worsen during the first six months of 2021. The survey was
conducted on 20 banks, including public sector, private sector and foreign
banks, representing about 59 per cent of the banking industry, as classified by
asset size. Some worries came with the private report that India's central bank
may have to delay the start of monetary policy normalisation by three months
amid rising COVID-19 cases, but barring the return of stringent lockdowns there
is no significant threat to the economy's recovery. Separately, commerce and
Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called upon all investors to stick to the
spirit and ambit of laws and not try to find loopholes in the policies, while
inviting them to take advantage of the 'demand, democracy and demographic
dividend' in India. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 585.10 points or 1.17% to
49,216.52, while the CNX Nifty was down by 163.45 points or 1.11% to 14,557.85.
The US markets
ended lower on Thursday as spike in treasury yields renewed concerns about the
outlook for high-growth companies. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note
jumped above 1.7 percent to reach its highest levels since January of 2020,
while the thirty-year bond yield shot up to its highest levels since last
summer. Yields skyrocketed despite yesterday's assurances by the Federal
Reserve that interest rates will remain at near-zero levels through 2023. The
jump in yields to concerns that the Fed's apparent willingness to let inflation
accelerate more than normal will reduce the appeal of bonds. On the economic
data front, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected
increase in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended
March 13th. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 770,000, an
increase of 45,000 from the previous week's revised level of 725,000. The
rebound came as a surprise to participants, who had expected jobless claims to
edge down to 700,000 from the 712,000 originally reported for the previous
week. However, the unexpected increase in jobless claims was partly due to jump
in claims in Texas due to the impact of Winter Storm Uri.
Crude oil futures ended deeply in
red on Thursday, extending their previous sessions' losses, amid concerns about
the outlook for energy demand due to uncertainty about the pace of the economic
recovery following a slowdown in vaccine rollouts in European countries.
Reports showing a surge in coronavirus cases in several countries in Europe and
fears of fresh lockdown measures raised concerns about energy demand. Besides,
rising tensions between the US and Russia, which could result in the latter
increasing its oil output, also weighed on prices. Crude oil futures for April
dropped $4.60 or 7.1 percent to settle at $60.00 barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude fell $5.32 or nearly 8 percent to settle
at $62.68a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended marginally
higher against dollar on Thursday, on persistent selling of the American
currency by exporters. Traders remained positive as Fitch Solutions revised its
forecast for Indian rupee to average Rs 73.50 per US dollar in 2021, slightly
stronger from Rs 75.50 per US dollar previously, which reflects its view for
the rupee to mostly trade sideways over the course of year. However, upside
remain capped as private report stated that India's central bank may have to
delay the start of monetary policy normalisation by three months amid rising
COVID-19 cases, but barring the return of stringent lockdowns there is no
significant threat to the economy's recovery. On the global front, spiking U.S.
bond yields boosted the dollar on Thursday, helping it to revive from two-week
lows after the Federal Reserve's push back against speculation over interest
rate hikes. Finally, the rupee ended 72.53, stronger by 2 paise from its
previous close of 72.55 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net buyer equity segment, while net seller in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10587.82 crore against gross selling of Rs
7356.42 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 480.70
crore with gross sales of Rs 694.58 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the
gross buying was of Rs 12.15 crore against gross selling of Rs 15.78 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Thursday as rising bond yields once again pulled down shares of technology
companies and the energy sector sold off on a sharp drop in oil prices. Asian
markets are trading mostly in red on Friday pressured by US Treasury yields
that rose to 14-month highs overnight and oil prices, which fell by their
biggest one-day declines since last summer. Indian markets ended a percent
lower on Thursday, extending losses for the fifth straight session as bond
yields spiked to their 13-month high. Today, the markets are likely to continue
their sluggish trend with gap-down opening amid weakness in global peers
coupled with concerns over rising coronavirus cases in the country. India
reported 39,643 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday pushing the overall tally to
11,513,945, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection
jumped to 159,249. The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra
(2,370,507), Kerala (1,094,294), Karnataka (962,339), Andhra Pradesh (892,269),
and Tamil Nadu (861,429). Maharashtra has recorded 25,833 new coronavirus
cases, the highest one-day spike since last March when the first coronavirus
infection was detected. however, some respite may come later in the day as a UN
report said India's economy, estimated to contract by 6.9 per cent in 2020 due to
the coronavirus pandemic, is forecast to record a stronger recovery in 2021 and
grow by 5 per cent, it also said the country's current fiscal year budget
points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public
investment. Some support may come as Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh
Thakur said steps taken by the government to deal with COVID-19 pandemic are
resulting in 'V-shaped' economic recovery and the country is likely to witness
double digit growth in 2021-22. IT firms will be in focus after Accenture
raised its guidance for the FY21 to 6.5-8.5% from 4-6% earlier, suggesting that
Indian IT companies could also report robust growth for the March quarter next
month. Insurance stocks will be in limelight as the Rajya Sabha passed The
Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to increase the foreign direct investment
limit in the sector from 49% to 74%. There will be some reaction in oil &
gas sector stocks as ratings agency India Ratings and Research said
profitability of upstream oil producers is expected to pick up in FY22, led by
rising oil and gas prices along with higher production. Meanwhile, Easy Trip
Planners to make market debut today. The Rs 510 crore issue, which was sold
from March 8 to March 10, was a big hit among investors, receiving a whopping
159.33 times bids.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
14,557.85
|
14,399.24
|
14,795.84
|
BSE
Sensex
|
49,216.52
|
48,687.13
|
50,021.12
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
ITC
|
919.93
|
217.65
|
213.34
|
220.54
|
Tata
Motors
|
737.31
|
307.00
|
298.96
|
315.81
|
State
Bank of India
|
394.05
|
367.10
|
360.46
|
374.36
|
Oil
& Natural Gas Corporation
|
267.10
|
110.20
|
107.74
|
112.44
|
Hindalco
Industries
|
237.44
|
331.80
|
327.26
|
338.41
|
UPL has committed to the UNGC initiative - a voluntary leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible business practices.
Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Reliance Jio Infocomm has added 19,56,812 customers in January 2021.
IOC has entered into collaboration with Israeli start-up company Phinergy to form IOC Phinergy.
BPCL is planning to add 400 more retail outlets in FY22 above its existing 2,738 retail outlets in the eastern region envisioning an increase in market share in Motor Spirit and High-Speed Diesel from present 27% to 30%.