Post Session: Quick Review

Buying activity which took place during last leg of trade mainly drove the markets higher and key domestic benchmarks garner a gain of over half a percent. After a cautious start, markets entered into red terrain and extended their southward journey as traders remained concerned with the Indian exports falling for the 15th month in a row, dipped 5.66 percent in February to $ 20.73 billion due to contraction in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods amid tepid global demand. Besides, investors remained on sidelines awaiting the outcome of the two-day US Federal Reserve policy meet which began yesterday. The Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting will end today.

The indices even went on to test important psychological 24,400 (Sensex) and 7,400 (Nifty) levels, but the key gauges got strong support near those intraday low levels as they showcased a smart recovery from thereon which ended up with a gain of over half a percent as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Some support came with report that foreign investors have bought a net $1.67 billion of shares in March. Market participants got some encouragement with report that as from March 29, global investors will be able to trade on derivatives contracts on select Indian sectors on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), in addition to on the Indian bourses. Meanwhile, government has stated that unseasonal rains and hailstorm in the past few days have damaged wheat crop in some parts of Punjab as well as Haryana and the Centre is closely monitoring the situation.

Firm opening European markets too aided sentiments. CAC, DAX and FTSE were trading with a gains of around half a percent in early deals. Asian markets ended mostly in green ahead of outcome of U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting and from China's annual legislative session. However, the Japanese market ended in red despite the yen weakness after Japan’s central bank President floated the prospect of further interest-rate cuts.

Back home, appreciation in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. The rupee appreciated by 14 paise to 67.23 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing at the Interbank Foreign Exchange. However, stocks related to pharma space remained under pressure on some reports that the government may ban nearly 400 fixed-dose combination medicines made by 1,500 manufacturers in the next six months due to harmful side-effects. The gold and jewellery stocks ended lower for second straight session on report that gold imports in February declined 29.49 percent to $1.39 billion.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index -- Nifty -- rose by around forty points to end near the psychological 7,500 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex -- surged by over one hundred and thirty points to finish near the psychological 24,700 mark. However, broader markets underperformed benchmarks and ended the session with a cut of around half a percent.

The market breadth remained in the favour off decliner, as there were 1,165 shares on the gaining side against 1,410 shares on the losing side while 161 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 24682.48, up by 131.31 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 24354.55 and 24706.85. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.41%, while Small cap index down by 0.17%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.88%, IT up by 0.86%, FMCG up by 0.81%, Finance up by 0.59% and TECK up by 0.55%, while Consumer Durables down by 3.61%, Metal down by 0.77%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.69%, Auto down by 0.51% and Basic Materials down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.30%, ITC up by 1.66%, Infosys up by 1.56%, Cipla up by 1.52% and HDFC up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.17%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.51%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.16%, Sun Pharma down by 0.86% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the disinvestment department is strategising to aggressively market PSUs (Public Sector Undertaking) among investors in countries such as Japan and US, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a positive buzz about opportunities in India. This step has come after the good response from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in the latest offers for sales in Concor and NTPC.

An action plan is being readied to increase engagement with select top investors of these countries in one-to-one as well as group interactions to showcase the opportunities in various sectors such as infrastructure, metals and oil & gas. After a lacklustre response from FPIs in most part of the current fiscal, investor’s participation increased in the latest government stake sales in Concor and NTPC. The effort would be to bring small stake sales in PSUs on a regular interval to maximise the opportunities subject to market conditions

For the current fiscal, the government has revised the disinvestment revenue target to Rs 25,300 crore as against Rs 69,500 crore set in Budget. Out of Rs 56,500 crore target set for next fiscal, Rs 36,000 crore is estimated to come from minority stake sales in PSUs and the remaining Rs 20,500 crore from strategic stake sales. Foreign participation in the government’s disinvestment programme would significantly increase after the Budget announcement on February 29, increasing the FPI limit in non-bank PSUs to 49% from 24%.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7498.75, up by 38.15 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 7405.15 and 7508.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.28%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.84%, ITC up by 1.75%, Infosys up by 1.59% and Lupin up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.86%, Asian Paints down by 2.23%, Vedanta down by 2.04%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.28% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.25% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 14.62 points or 0.24% to 6,154.59, France’s CAC gained 17.76 points or 0.4% to 4,490.39 and Germany’s DAX was up by 76.38 points or 0.77% to 10,010.23.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday, followed by a positive close on Wall Street overnight while traders remained cautious over the outcome of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting, scheduled for Wednesday. Markets were also watching for news from the annual session of China's National People's Congress. Concerns have been growing lately that the economy is losing momentum and can no longer serve as such a strong driver of regional growth. Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares finished down as investors sold shares on the final day of the annual meeting of China's parliament.