Markets to make a cautious start on the penultimate day of F&O expiry

The Indian markets showed a very volatile trade in last session with benchmarks once again ending marginally in red. Today, the start of the penultimate day of F&O expiry session is likely to remain cautious on muted trend in the other regional markets, though volatility is likely to be seen with traders rolling over their positions to the new month contract. Markets will be getting some support with Mauritius promising full cooperation with India to address outstanding issues relating to their bilateral tax treaty. There will be some buzz in the coal and power sector stocks, as the Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has reportedly said that India's coal imports are expected to jump 19 percent to a record of about 200 million tonnes this fiscal year. Oil & gas stocks too may see some action, as the oil regulator PNGRB has sought more time to respond to Petroleum Ministry's move to take away its powers to issue CNG retailing licences. Telecom stocks too will keep buzzing as the telecom auction may come to its end on the 19th day. The government's kitty from the telecom spectrum auction rose to Rs 1.09 lakh crore with the provisional allocation of 89 percent radiowaves made at the end of the 18th day.

The US markets extended their losses in last session, though there were some early gains but traders remained concerned about the outlook for interest rates on the heels of some upbeat housing data. The new home sales surged up by 7.8 percent to an annual rate of 539,000 in February from the revised January rate of 500,000. The Asian markets too have given up their starting gains and most of them were trading in red on US rate concern and as South Korea’s fourth-quarter economic growth was revised down to 0.3 percent from the previous quarter.

Back home, extending their losing streak for fifth straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade slightly in the red as investors remained on sideline ahead of expiry of March derivative contracts on Thursday. Selling in last leg of trade mainly dragged the markets lower. Sentiments remained up-beat for most part of the day’s trade on the back of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) latest Outlook report, saying that developing Asia, which groups 45 countries in Asia-Pacific, is set to grow 6.3 per cent this year and the next, the same pace as in 2014. India and most Southeast Asian economies will lead the way, offsetting slowing growth in China. Meanwhile, the Union government will borrow Rs 3.6 lakh crore from markets in the first half of the next financial year, which is over 50 percent of the annual target of Rs 6 lakh crore. On the global front, European markets made a positive start, while the Asian markets ended mostly in the green. Back home, continuing its rising streak for the seventh straight session on sustained selling of dollars by exporters. Some support also came in with report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 417.41 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 403.91 crore yesterday, as per provisional data of the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, exports oriented stocks remained in limelight, as the Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government will soon unveil the much-delayed Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) which is expected to roll out steps to boost exports.  Select stocks from telecom sector edged higher after Ministry of Communications & Information Technology said that about 88% of the spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders at a value of approximately Rs 1.05 lakh crore. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 30.30 points or 0.11% to 28161.72, while the CNX Nifty lost 7.95 points or 0.09% to 8,542.95.