The Indian markets moved higher in last session going through a choppy trade, ending the week on modestly higher note. Today, the start is likely to be in green taking cues from the other global markets. Traders will also be getting some encouragement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde’s statement that the fiscal stance adopted by India is exactly appropriate and a very sensible objective that has been set. On the home front Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government hopes to pass the landmark Constitution Amendment Bill for national Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as the bankruptcy and insolvency bill in the second half of the Budget session beginning April 20. Meanwhile, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan brushing aside the contention that exchange rate is impacting exports has said that the shipments can only be increased by raising productivity, improving infrastructure and simplifying regulations, which is in the domain of the government. There will be some cautiousness too in reaction to the weak industrial production data and especially the capital goods stocks will be under pressure. IIP for the month of January come in at -1.5 compared to revised to -1.2 percent December IIP data earlier. Traders will also be eyeing the twin inflation numbers CPI and WPI, slated to be announced later in the day. There will be some buzz in the telecom stocks, as Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said that the proposal in Finance Bill 2016 to declare spectrum allocations as services will result in a tax burden of Rs 77,000 crore for operators and is likely to hurt consumers, as they have to pay higher tariff rates if the load is passed on to them.
The US markets surged in last session, with major averages ending the session at their best closing levels in two months. Increase in crude oil prices generated buying interest and led the energy stocks higher. The Asian markets have made an all green start led by the surge in the Japanese market which was trading up by over two percent in early deals, buoyed by surge in Japanese machinery orders.
Back home, the domestic equity markets showed a notable recovery in the second half of the session and ended the day in the green, however the trade remained volatile throughout the day. Sentiments got some support with IMF's indication that it may revise its estimate for global economic growth in its spring meeting but India is better placed than other emerging market countries. The recent reforms raised hopes the government would take further measures after key parts of its legislative agenda, including a revamp of the goods and services tax (GST), had been stuck in parliament. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1063.11 crore on March 10, 2016. However, Investors maintained a cautious approach ahead of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for January scheduled to be released later in the day. On the global front, Asian markets ended the week high on Friday, while European shares bounced back. At home, the benchmark got off to a soft start as the indices showed signs of consolidation in early trade, tracking the weakness in other Asian markets after ECB chairman Mario Draghi said the bank would consider further rate cuts only in extreme cases. But the frontline indices slowly but steadily started gathering steam and surged by over half a percent by late morning trades as energy firms such as Reliance Industries rallied after the country simplified oil and gas licensing rules, while property developers gained after parliament passed a real estate bill. However, the key gauges suffered a setback in afternoon trades as sudden bouts of profit booking emerged in the local markets due to lack of encouraging leads. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 94.65 points or 0.38% to 24717.99, while the CNX Nifty rose 24.05 points or 0.32% to 7,510.20.
