Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended the first day of FY17 with marginal losses as buying which took place during last leg of trade helped markets to pare most of their initial losses. After a cautious start markets soon languished into red, as sentiments remained down-beat with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) stating that the financial year 2017 is likely to remain challenging for corporate India, and corporates are unlikely to take up new investments on weaker credit conditions than in 2015-16. Sentiments also remained dampened with the Centre’s fiscal deficit increasing to Rs 5.73 lakh crore or 107.1 per cent of the FY16 revised estimate in first 11 months of the year, but officials expressed confidence that the full-year deficit estimate of 3.9 per cent of the GDP would be met.

Markets magnified losses and even went on to test important psychological 25,150 (Sensex) and 6,650 (Nifty) levels, but the key gauges got some support near those intraday low levels as they made spectacular recovery from thereon to end up with marginal losses. Some support came with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pegging India's GDP growth rate at 7.6 percent for the fiscal 2015-16 and expressing hope for better numbers next year. Firm macroeconomic data too aided sentiments. Eight core sector industries surged to a 15-month high of 5.7 per cent in February 2016, almost double the 2.9 per cent of January 2016.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as caution ruled ahead of surveys on global manufacturing and the latest reading on US jobs. Asian markets ended mostly in red on Friday as investors began the new quarter in a cautious mood, with glimmers of life in China’s economy offset by a darkening mood in Japan. However, Chinese benchmark edged higher after activity in China’s vast manufacturing sector expanded in March for the first time in nine months as the official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surprised at 50.2.

Closer home, shares of companies engaged in exploration & production of natural gas extended their losses after the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) attached to the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas announced a reduction in locally produced natural gas price for the six-month period April-September 2016. The price has been cut by almost 20% to $3.06 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on gross calorific value (GCV) basis for the period April 1, 2016 to 30 September 2016 from $3.82 per mmBtu for the period from October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016. Auto counter too witnessed selling despite companies like M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland reporting decent March sales numbers.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty tumbled by over twenty points but managed to hold its crucial 7,700 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex declined by over seventy points to finish below its psychological 25,300 mark. Broader markets however outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with a gain of around half a percent. The market breadth remained in favor of advances, as there were 1707 shares on the gaining side against 830 shares on the losing side while 106 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 25269.64, down by 72.22 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 25119.35 and 25354.94. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.22%, while Small cap index up by 0.93%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.97%, Capital Goods up by 1.24%, FMCG up by 1.01%, Power up by 0.77% and Consumer Durables up by 0.70%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.24%, TECK down by 1.23%, IT down by 1.01%, Metal down by 0.69% and Auto down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 2.61%, BHEL up by 2.24%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.81%, Axis Bank up by 1.12% and ICICI Bank up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.22%, TCS down by 2.61%, ONGC down by 2.54%, GAIL India down by 2.48% and Adani Ports &Special down by 1.94% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India's total external debt rose marginally to $480.2 billion at the end of December 2015, up $4.9 billion, or almost 1 percent, compared to that of $475.8 billion as of March 31, 2015, largely driven by private commercial borrowings and non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits, finance ministry said in its external debt report. However, it marked a decline from $483.2 billion at the end of September 2015.

However, year-on-year, the debt grew 4.7 per cent. Long-term external debt increased 2.2 per cent or $8.8 billion; short-term debt fell 4.6 per cent or $3.9 billion. Government (sovereign) external debt stood at $90.7 billion at December end 2015 while non-government debt amounted to $389.5 billion. The report said India's external debt has remained within manageable limits as indicated by external debt indicators. Further it said that the prudent external debt management policy of government of India has helped in containing rise in external debt and maintaining a comfortable external debt position.

Component-wise, the commercial borrowings at the end December 2015 stood at $183.6 billion a rise of 1.5 per cent. NRI deposits at $122.6 billion rose 6.5 per cent over end-March. Commercial borrowings and NRI deposits together accounted for 63.8 per cent of total external debt (long-term and short-term) at end-December. Commercial borrowings accounted for 38.2 percent of the total external debt, followed by NRI deposits at 25.5 percent and multilateral debt of 11.1 percent.

The report said that the 'policy continues to focus' on monitoring long- and short-term debt, raising sovereign loans on concessional terms with longer maturities, regulating ECBs, and rationalising interest rates on Non-Resident Indian deposits.

For valuation effect, the report said the US dollar appreciated against Indian rupee and other most major currencies between March 2015 and December 2015. Excluding the valuation effect, the external debt would have been higher at $488.1 billion at December end 2015.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7713.05, down by 25.35 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 7666.10 and 7740.15. There were 21 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 3.95% and ITC up by 2.38% and ACC up by 2.31% and BHEL up by 2.28% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.38%, Bosch down by 4.31%, Idea Cellular down by 2.81%, TCS down by 2.63% and Tech Mahindra down by 2.49% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX declined 172.86 points or 1.73% to 9,792.65, France’s CAC tumbled 78.34 points or 1.79% to 4,306.72 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 75.79 points or 1.23% to 6,099.11.

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Friday follwoing weak close on Wall Street overnight coupled with a disappointing survey of Japanese business issued by the central Bank of Japan. Japanese shares closed down, as the yen continued to strengthen and the Bank of Japan's latest Tankan business sentiment survey showed conditions and the outlook among large manufacturers worsened in March. Hong Kong's shares fell the most in five weeks after rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded its outlook for China and Hong Kong. However, Chinese shares bucked the downtrend, as stronger-than-expected business activity in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors added to confidence that Chinese growth has stabilized.