Indian equity benchmarks overcame
bouts of volatility to settle in the green for the second straight session on
Friday, backed by renewed buying interest in Realty, Metal and Banking stocks.
Besides, a strengthening rupee and lower crude prices in the international
markets also influenced sentiments. Markets made a gap-up opening amid a firm
trend in global equities. Traders took a note of rating agency Crisil's
statement that the India's economy is likely to log in 6 per cent growth next
fiscal, in line with consensus estimates, driven by an increased capex by the
private sector. It added the private sector capex is expected to deliver
double-digit revenue growth for the second year on the trot. The economy is
projected to grow 7 per cent this fiscal. Crisil further said it expects the
corporate revenue to log in double-digit rise again next fiscal. However,
markets reversed initial gains in afternoon deals amid volatility. Traders
turned anxious amid reports that the RBI is likely to for one more rate hike in
its next monetary policy committee meeting in April, as India's headline
inflation continues to be sticky at around 6 percent and the central bank also
keeping its eye on the rupee stability along with uncertainty in the US markets
and Fed impending decision. Traders took a note of repot that Chief Economic
Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said the global uncertainty has been rising
after the recent developments in the United States and governments, businesses
and individuals should keep margins of safety in fiscal, corporate and savings
account planning. Besides, foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold
shares worth Rs 282.06 crore on March 17, according to the provisional data
available on the NSE. But, in the late afternoon deals, markets regained
traction to close with handsome gains as positive cues from European markets
lent some support to markets. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 355.06 points or
0.62% to 57,989.90 and the CNX Nifty was up by 114.45 points or 0.67% to
17,100.05.
After previous session's rally,
the US markets ended sharply lower on Friday. With the Nasdaq snapping a
four-day winning streak, the all major averages showed notable moves to the
downside on the day. Traders booked their profits after previous session's
rally amid lingering concerns about turmoil in the financial sector. Shares of
First Republic Bank (FRC) showed a significant pullback on the day, plummeting
by 32.8 percent after surging by 10.0 percent on Thursday. The jump in the
previous session came as a group of financial institutions agreed to deposit
$30 billion in First Republic in an effort to express confidence in the banking
system. Traders also continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary
policy announcement next Wednesday. On the economic data front, the Fed
released a report showing U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged
in the month of February. The Fed said industrial production was unchanged in
February following a revised 0.3 percent increase in January. Street had
expected industrial production to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged
reading originally reported for the previous month. A separate report from the
University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell for the first
time in four months in March. The report said the consumer sentiment index slid
to 63.4 in March from 67.0 in February. Street had expected the index to be
unchanged. Meanwhile, the report showed decreases in both near-term and
long-term inflation expectations, with year-ahead inflation expectations
falling to the lowest level since April 2021.
Crude oil futures gave up early
gains and ended significantly lower on Friday as rising concerns about the
crisis in the banking sector continued to fuel worries about economic growth
and the outlook for energy demand. With fall in Friday's session, oil prices
booked their biggest weekly drop of 2023. Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Arabia's energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz
bin Salman, met Thursday. They likely discussed ways to stabilize oil prices,
Lambrecht said, while the recovery of Chinese oil demand after the lifting of
COVID restrictions remains an important crutch. Benchmark crude oil futures for
April delivery fell $1.61 or 2.4 percent to $66.74 a barrel on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery declined $1.73 or 2.3 percent
to $72.97 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Indian rupee settled higher
against dollar on last trading day of the week tracking positive sentiments in
the domestic equity markets. Sentiments remained upbeat with rating agency
Crisil's statement that the India's economy is likely to log in 6 per cent
growth next fiscal, in line with consensus estimates, driven by an increased
capex by the private sector. It added the private sector capex is expected to
deliver double-digit revenue growth for the second year on the trot. Besides,
the economy is projected to grow 7 per cent this fiscal (FY23). The agency also
sees the economy averaging 6.8 per cent growth over the next five fiscals. It
further said it expects the corporate revenue to log in double-digit rise again
next fiscal. On the global front, dollar slipped on Friday after top U.S. power
brokers including the government and banks threw a lifeline to a struggling
regional lender to ease stress on the financial system, which returned some
confidence to investors. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.58 (Provisional),
stronger by 18 paise from its previous close of 82.76 on Thursday.
The FIIs as per Friday's data
were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity
segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8251.77 crore against gross selling of Rs
8085.07 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 308.54
crore against gross selling of Rs 353.25 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment,
the gross buying was of Rs 5.17 crore against gross selling of Rs 6.54 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Friday as investors remained wary about a potential banking crisis even as the
country's largest banks came to the rescue of troubled regional lender First
Republic Bank. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Monday following a
lower close on Wall Street. Indian markets rose notably on Friday to extend
gains from the previous session, largely led by gains in IT stocks, financials
and metal shares. Today, markets are likely to start the week on pessimistic
note amid lackluster cues from global peers. Traders will be concerned amid
fears that the U.S. banking turmoil will lead to tighter lending standards that
will cripple small businesses and eventually send the world's largest economy
into a recession. There will be some cautiousness as the Reserve Bank of
India's (RBI) statistical supplement showed India's foreign exchange reserves
fell to $560 billion as of the week ended March 10, their lowest since
early-December. However, some respite may come later in the day as the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) revised upwards
its growth estimate for India by 20 basis points to 5.9 per cent for FY24. Some
support will come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India's economic and
banking system are strong even amid the turmoil currently rocking global markets.
Traders may take note of report that India and the European Union (EU)
concluded the fourth round of talks for a comprehensive free trade agreement in
Brussels, a move aimed at further strengthening economic ties between the two
sides. There will be some buzz in power stocks as India's power consumption
surged 10 per cent to 1375.57 billion units (BU) during April-February this
fiscal year and has already surpassed the level of electricity supplied in
entire 2021-22. Banking stocks will be in focus as the Reserve Bank governor
Shaktikanta Das cautioned banks against any build-up of asset-liability
mismatches, saying both are detrimental to financial stability and hinted that
the ongoing crisis in the US banking system seems to have emanated from such mismatches.
There will be some reaction in cement industry stocks with Crisil's report that
the continuing demand for housing, accounting for 60-65 per cent of cement
demand, and aggressive government investments in infrastructure will drive
demand, nudging cement-makers to add 145-155 MT in fresh capacity at an
investment of Rs 1.2 lakh crore by FY27.
Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and
BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
17,100.05
|
16,990.20
|
17,177.85
|
BSE
Sensex
|
57,989.90
|
57,602.88
|
58,277.92
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
489.62
|
107.15
|
105.65
|
108.00
|
ITC
|
489.04
|
376.45
|
369.06
|
384.41
|
NTPC
|
472.77
|
176.40
|
174.30
|
180.10
|
Power
Grid Corporation of India
|
252.83
|
229.40
|
227.14
|
232.84
|
State
Bank of India
|
187.87
|
531.00
|
523.54
|
535.04
|
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