Indian equity
benchmarks extended the losing run to the fourth straight session and ended
with heavy losses on Monday, dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC
twins amid a weak trend in Asian markets. Markets began trade on weak note and
stayed in red for whole day, as traders remained cautious as the World Bank cut
its economic growth forecast for India and the whole South Asian region, citing
worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation risks caused by the Ukraine
crisis. The international lender lowered its growth estimate for India to 8%
from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023. Additional pressure came
in with a private report stating that with Covid cases witnessing a rise in the
national capital, traders and business owners are apprehensive that their
pandemic-hit businesses might be engulfed in another wave even before
recovering from losses over the past two years. Markets extended fall in
afternoon deals, as India's March wholesale price index-based inflation rose to
14.55 per cent as compared to 13.11 per cent in last month. According to the
data released by the industry department, the high rate of inflation in March
2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas,
mineral oils, basic metals, owing to disruption in global supply chain caused
by Russia-Ukraine conflict. Traders overlooked the finance ministry's statement
that the focus on capex in the recently announced Budget for the current fiscal
year will boost manufacturing and tax revenue collections, thereby keeping
India on track to becoming a $5 trillion economy. Market participants also paid
no heed towards a private report stated that a normal monsoon season this year
is expected to mitigate some inflationary pressures, especially being witnessed
in certain food commodities. In terms of predictions, both Skymet and IMD have
given a forecast for a normal Southwest Monsoon for the current year at 99
per cent and 98 per cent of the long period average (LPA) respectively.
Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 1172.19 points or 2.01% to 57,166.74 and the CNX
Nifty was down by 302.00 points or 1.73% to 17,173.65.
The US markets ended lower on
Monday as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the
release of a slew of earnings news this week. Johnson & Johnson, IBM,
Netflix, Procter & Gamble, Tesla, American Express and Verizon are among
the big-name companies due to report their quarterly results in the coming
days. Meanwhile, traders have also been looking ahead to the release of the
Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which may shed additional light on the outlook
for interest rates. On the sectoral front, despite the lackluster performance
by the broader markets, biotechnology stocks moved sharply lower on the day,
dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 3.6 percent. Significant
weakness also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent
drop by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. On the economic data front, reflecting
rapidly rising interest rates combined with ongoing home price increases and
higher construction costs, the National Association of Home Builders released a
report showing a continued deterioration in US homebuilder confidence in the
month of April. The report showed the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index
fell to 77 in April from 79 in March, with the decrease matching street
estimates. The housing market index declined for the fourth consecutive month,
sliding to its lowest level since hitting 76 last September. The continued
decrease by the housing market index came as the component charting traffic of
prospective buyers tumbled to 60 in April from 66 in March.
Crude oil futures ended higher on
Monday on concerns about tight supply due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and
news about the shutdown of Libya's biggest oil field. Libya's National Oil Corp
warned a painful wave of closures had begun hitting its facilities and declared
force majeure at Al-Sharara oilfield and other sites. Meanwhile, natural gas
prices soared about 10%, climbing to an over 13-year high in the process, amid
concerns about an energy crunch due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and
forecasts for cooler spring temperatures. Benchmark crude oil futures for May
delivery rose $1.26 or 1.2 percent to settle at $108.21 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery surged $1.45 or 1.3
percent to settle at $113.15 (Provisional) a barrel on London's
Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee ended weaker against
dollar on Monday, on emergence of demand for the greenback from importers. Sentiments
were fragile as India's March wholesale price index-based inflation rose to
14.55 per cent as compared to 13.11 per cent in last month. According to the
data released by the industry department, the high rate of inflation in March
2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas,
mineral oils, basic metals, owing to disruption in global supply chain caused
by Russia-Ukraine conflict. On the global front, yen won a brief reprieve after
hitting fresh two-decade lows from Japanese policymaker comments on Monday,
even as holidays confined the U.S. dollar to narrow ranges against most other
currencies. Finally, the rupee ended at 76.26 (Provisional), weaker by 7 paise
from its previous close of 76.19 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Monday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 5483.44 crore against gross selling of Rs 6443.93 crore, while
in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 517.21 crore against gross
sales of Rs 1045.67 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 8.58 crore against gross selling of Rs 10.87 crore.
The US markets ended in red on
Monday as worries about interest rates and inflation keep a lid on Wall Street
despite some better-than-expected profit reports. Asian markets are trading
mixed on Tuesday with investors weighing Chinese measures to support the
economy and the prospect for faster Federal Reserve policy tightening to fight
inflation. Indian markets crashed on Monday, hammered by robust selling in
market heavyweights Infosys and HDFC Bank following their below-estimate
results. Today, the markets are likely to get flat-to-positive start amid mixed
global cues. Some support will come as the commerce department's preliminary
data showed that India exported goods worth $18.79 billion during the first two
weeks of April, up 37 per cent compared to the same period last year, as
external demand continued to remain robust. Excluding petroleum products, the
growth in this period was 23.64 per cent over the same period of 2021-22.
Besides, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has launched two new
portals, with an aim to improve ease of doing business, including one for
registration of pesticides. Another portal is for documentation related to
imports and exports of agri-products and plants. However, there may be some cautiousness
as flagging risks of disruptive spillovers from geopolitical hostilities, an
RBI article said India faces these challenges from a position of strength built
on broadened vaccine coverage, financial sector resilience and robust exports.
Traders may be concerned as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that
the debt piled on by the private sector during the coronavirus pandemic could
lower growth for emerging markets by 1.3 percent over three years. There will
be some buzz in the aviation industry stocks as Civil Aviation Minister
Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed confidence about India's aviation industry
getting back to the normal pre-pandemic level. The aviation industry of India
touched over four lakh domestic passengers in a day on April 18, 2022. Sugar
industry stocks will be in focus as the commerce ministry said India's sugar
exports increased to $4.6 billion (about Rs 35,000 crore) in 2021-22 from $1.17
billion (about Rs 9,000 crore) in 2013-14. India exported sugar to 121
countries across the globe. There will be some reaction in real estate sector
stocks with a private report that private equity investment into the Indian
real estate sector fell 47 per cent to $1 billion during January-March this
year compared to the year-ago period, but the inflows jumped over 4.5 times
from the previous quarter. There will be some important result announcements to
keep the markets in action.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,475.65
|
17,400.81
|
17,607.06
|
BSE
Sensex
|
58,338.93
|
58,085.50
|
58,798.09
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
NTPC
|
820.98
|
163.75
|
157.59
|
166.84
|
Infosys
|
305.23
|
1622.30
|
1,591.54
|
1,651.54
|
ITC
|
243.99
|
270.35
|
267.56
|
272.81
|
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation
|
239.16
|
175.80
|
174.26
|
178.16
|
HDFC Bank
|
228.10
|
1397.50
|
1,381.15
|
1,422.75
|
HDFC Bank has received an approval to raise up to Rs 50,000 crore in the next one year by issuing bonds aimed at financing infrastructure and affordable housing loan requirements of the customers.
Maruti Suzuki is planning to launch multiple electric vehicles models in India in its bid to catch up with competitors and become a leader in the segment, despite not being present there at present.
TCS has launched an agile and intuitive risk-based monitoring solution for clinical trials, that enables intelligent decision making, increased compliance and improves study efficacy.
M&M is all set to offload over 34.75 lakh shares, constituting 22.81% of the paid-up capital, in Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel, to Japan-based Sanyo Special Steel Co.