Markets to make some recovery on supportive regional cues

The Indian markets continued their bearish trend and ended modestly lower in the last session, as traders preferred to book profits at every rise. Today, the start is likely to be in green and some recovery can be expected after the series of fall, supported by an International Monetary Fund’s latest report raising its forecasts of India’s economic growth to 7.2% in the current fiscal year, compared to 5.6% as predicted earlier. Traders will also be getting some support with the statement of Revenue Secretary that the GST rollout is on track. He has also said that the roadmap for the removal of corporate tax exemptions announced in the Union Budget are also set to be announced during the course of this year. Though, there will be some cautiousness too ahead of the release of February CPI and January IIP data after the market hours. Telecom stocks will keep buzzing as the total bid value jumped up to Rs 96,000 crore, higher by Rs 3,800 crore from the previous day on the seventh day of the spectrum auction, with fierce bidding in all circles except Bihar, Karnataka, Kolkata, Tamil Nadu, UP (east) and UP (west) in 800 MHz.

The US markets failed to sustain an early lead and ended modestly lower in last session, traders remained on sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week. Traders were also concerned about the strength in dollar and situation in Greece. The Asian markets have rebounded and most of them have made a positive start after South Korean central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates.

Back home, extending their southward journey for third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade slightly in the red as investors remained on sidelines ahead of data on industrial production for January and consumer price index for February scheduled to be announced on Thursday. Marketmen also traded with caution and were unwilling to take fresh positions ahead of the proceedings in the Parliament particularly with respect to the passage of key bills such as Land Acquisition Bill in Rajya Sabha. However, losses remained capped as some support came with report that India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed considerably to $8.2 billion or 1.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the quarter ended December 2014 down from $10.1 billion or 2% of GDP on end-September 2014. On the global front, European markets made a positive start, while the Asian markets skidded to a two-month low. Back home, sentiments remained downbeat on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 748.13 crore on March 10, 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, stocks related to metal counter fell on concerns over the impact of the investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Additionally, public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) edged lower as global crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday after data showed US crude stocks fell for the first time in two months.  On the flip side, select stocks from Auto space edged higher with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) reporting that domestic car sales grew 7% to 1,71,727 units in February, however there was 9% drop in rural motorcycle sales last month. Moreover, telecom stocks remained in action with aggressive bidding by mobile phone operators in auction of mobile airwaves, which led the government accumulate Rs 94,000 crore by the end of auctioning after five days of bidding. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 50.70 points or 0.18% to 28659.17, while the CNX Nifty lost 12.10 points or 0.14% to 8,699.95.