Benchmarks posts best monthly gains since Jan 2012, despite ending flat

Indian equity benchmarks ended the last day of the financial year on a cautious note, after a volatile session due to the expiry of monthly derivative contracts on Thursday, but indexes still posted their best monthly gain in more than four years boosted by big overseas inflows. According to data from National Securities Depository and Securities and Exchange Board of India, FIIs have put in Rs 21,327 crore ($3.18 billion) so far in the Indian market during the current month (till March 29). Rate sensitive sectors - banks, auto and realty - were among the top gainers in March that rallied a hope that the RBI might cut key rates in the next Monetary Policy review on April 5. 

Sentiments got some support with the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the country’s GDP growth rate of 7.6% for the fiscal 2015-16, is ‘much less’ than its potential and expressed hope for better numbers next year. Jaitley also said that India earlier had a bad reputation of not being the best place to do business, but the governments at the Centre and states have made considerable headway in reforming the system. Appreciation in the rupee against the dollar too aided sentiments. Rising for the fifth day, Indian rupee strengthened by 12 paise to 66.25 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing on continued selling of dollar by banks and exporters.

On the global front, Asia markets ended mixed on Thursday, with some markets partially losing mid-week gains made following US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's affirmation to move slowly in raising interest rates. Japan's index Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses, while China’s index Shanghai Composite ended on positive note. Meanwhile, Europe stocks declined in early trade as investors turned jittery after crude oil futures slid on the report that the US crude stocks had reached yet another record high, renewing concerns about oversupply.

Back home, the benchmark got off to a soft start as the indices showed signs of consolidation in early trade, a session after the awe-inspiring close to two percent rally. But the frontline indices slowly but steadily started gathering steam and surged by around half a percent by late morning trades. Thereafter, the indices kept oscillating in a narrow range through the first half in the absence of any positive triggers. The key gauges suffered a setback in late afternoon trades as sudden bouts of profit booking emerged in the local markets, tracking weak trade in European markets. However, the frontline gauges managed to pare the losses and rose above the neutral line in the dying hours of trade settling in close proximity with previous closing levels. Eventually the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, settled with single digit gains below the crucial 7,750 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index Sensex ended flat but closed above the psychological 25,300 mark. Moreover, the broader markets showed some resilience and settled on a positive note, outperforming their larger peers by quite a margin. On the BSE sectoral space, the Consumer Durables index remained the top gainer in the space and settled with about a percent gains followed by the Power and IT pockets, which too went home with moderate gains. On the flipside, the Metal and PSU sectors languished at the bottom of the table with losses of 0.77% and 0.69% respectively. The market breadth remained optimistic as there were 1310 shares on the gaining side against 1244 shares on the losing side while 186 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 3.28 points or 0.01% to 25341.86, while the CNX Nifty rallied 3.20 points or 0.04% to 7,738.40.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low 25479.62 and 25223.22, respectively. The broader indices made a positive closing; the BSE Mid cap index ended up by 0.68%, while Small cap index gained 0.46%

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.21%, Power up by 0.82%, IT up by 0.66%, TECK up by 0.63% and FMCG up by 0.57%, while Metal down by 0.77%, PSU down by 0.69%, Oil & Gas down by 0.64% and Capital Goods down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.11%, Infosys up by 1.01%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.97%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.79% and Adani Ports &Special up by 0.75%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.65%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.53%, Tata Steel down by 1.51%, Coal India down by 1.50% and Asian Paints down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to support India's universal sanitation initiative, the government and World Bank have signed $1.5 billion loan agreement for the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). The pact for SBM Support Operation Project is to help the government in its efforts to ensure that all citizens in the rural areas have access to improved sanitation with a focus on changing behaviour and eliminating the practice of open defecation by 2019.

The project will support the rural component, known as SBM - Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year period using a new performance-based programme which links funds directly to results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need - more than 60 per cent of India's population that resides in rural areas. The project will also finance specific activities to strengthen the current monitoring and evaluation system to capture timely, relevant, and reliable information on the programme's progress.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) will oversee and coordinate the project and support the participating states. Funds will also be used to develop the capacity of MDWS in programme management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. The World Bank will also provide a parallel $25 million technical assistance to build the capacity of select states in implementing community-led behavioural change programmes targeting social norms to help ensure widespread usage of toilets by rural households.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low 7,777.60 and 7,702.00 respectively.   

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.67%, IDEA up by 2.93%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.80%, Indusind Bank up by 2.08% and Sun Pharma up by 1.77%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.80%, ONGC down by 1.72%, Coal India down by 1.62%, Tata Steel down by 1.62% and Vedanta down by 1.36% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 54.45 points or 0.54% to 9,992.16, France’s CAC declined 46.57 points or 1.05% to 4,397.85 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 34.7 points or 0.56% to 6,168.47.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Thursday despite U.S. stocks closing higher for the third straight session overnight to push further into positive territory for 2016. China stocks extended gains after the previous session's 2 percent jump, as markets took comfort in the likely prospect that US interest rates will rise at a slower pace. However, Japan's Nikkei fell to a near two-week low as a stronger yen trimmed the profit outlook for exporters, while investors stayed on the sidelines on the final day of Japan's financial year looking for more catalysts ahead.