Benchmarks end a lackluster session in red; Nifty ends below 7900 mark

It turned out to be a lackadaisical performance from the benchmark indices on Friday as they failed to extend the gaining streak and settled marginally below the neutral line. However, Indian markets rose nearly 1 percent this week and were on the verge of turning positive for the year on hopes the central bank would continue to cut interest rates in view of easing inflation and expectations of good monsoon rains. Rises in Indian markets was also supported by foreign investors, who  bought a net $872.22 million worth of Indian shares so far this month, taking this year's inflows to $1.41 billion. However, weak trend in global markets coupled with depreciation in rupee value weighed on sentiment in the last day of the trading week. Indian rupee depreciated by 14 paise to trade at 66.53 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing due to fresh buying of the American currency by banks and importers. Further, Investors remained cautious as they looked forward to earnings show of blue-chip companies, including Reliance Industries, which is set to release its numbers after trading hours. Meanwhile, banking stocks rose for another session after a report that the central bank had trimmed the list of companies that needed bad loan provisioning. One the other hand, tyre stocks declined on a report that the Natural rubber prices have risen by over 15% in April 2016 so far.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in red on Friday, as investors turned jittery after US shares halted a three-day winning streak overnight on the back of disappointing earnings updates from some US companies. Investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of a Federal Reserve rate review next week that is expected to hold steady, but also possibly adopt a more hawkish tone. Further, European stocks were trading lower in early trade, led by declines in auto industry shares and mining companies, as investors assessed the latest earnings reports.

Back home, after getting weak start, Indian benchmark indices slipped into deeper red in the early moments of trade since investors largely remained influenced by the pessimistic sentiments prevailing in Asian markets.  The key indices failed to show any kind of eagerness and oscillated around the neutral line for most part of noon trades and drifted deeper into the red terrain in afternoon session on account of weak European opening, post which the indices found it hard to claw back into the green terrain and eventually settled in the negative zone.  Finally the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, took a cut of around one tens of a percent to settle below the crucial 7,900 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive Index, Sensex slipped by over forty two points and closed below the psychological 25,850 mark. On the BSE sectoral space, the FMCG index remained the top laggard in the space and settled with over half a percent cuts. While counters like IT, Consumer Durables and Realty too suffered severe pounding. On the flipside, PSU, Auto and Banking pockets managed to go home with the gains of around half a percent. The market breadth remained awful as there were 1250 shares on the gaining side against 1312 shares on the losing side, while 163 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 42.24 points or 0.16% to 25838.14, while the CNX Nifty dropped 12.75 points or 0.16% to 7,899.30. 

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low 25922.02 and 25771.88, respectively. The broader indices made a positive closing; the BSE Mid cap index ended up by 0.08%, while Small cap index was tad higher by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.87%, Auto up by 0.87%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36% and Capital Goods up by 0.23%, while FMCG down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.47%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46% and Realty down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.07%, SBI up by 2.94%, ONGC up by 1.55%, Axis Bank up by 1.51% and NTPC up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.04%, Asian Paints down by 1.84%, HDFC down by 1.51%, Sun Pharma down by 1.48% and ITC down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Expressing confidence in the Indian economy, Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant has said that the India will become $10 trillion economy by 2032. He added that 'If we achieve a $10 trillion economy target by 2032 by a 10% growth rate year-on-year, the compounding effect would be such that ours could be a $20-trillion economy in the next 6-7 years after 2032. The 10% y-o-y growth is the biggest challenge.'

Kant presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi an eight-point action plan that would help the country grow at 10 per cent per annum against its projected growth rate of 7.4 percent to achieve a $10 trillion economy by 2032. In his presentation Kant has projected creation of 175 million jobs and achieving zero per cent of Below Poverty Line (BPL) population by 2032.  But giving another scenario of a 7 per cent growth per annum, he said, this will make India a $6 trillion economy by the same year, create 115 million jobs. India presently is a $1.7 trillion economy.

The presentation was made on the status of implementation of reports of ‘Group of Secretaries’ formed by the Modi government. A total of eight Group of Secretaries were formed in December last year on focus areas. These eight groups had officers from different ministries. Further, there were 16 groups of Joint Secretaries who simultaneously worked on their focus area.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 7,923.35 and 7,873.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 26 stocks decliners on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.04%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.97%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.92%, NTPC up by 1.81% and Axis Bank up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.27%, Asian Paints down by 2.15%, HDFC down by 1.75%, Sun Pharma down by 1.47% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.21% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased by 82.82 points or 0.79% to 10,352.91, UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 58.5 points or 0.92% to 6,322.94 and France’s CAC was down by 19.93 points or 0.43% to 4,562.90

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Friday after US shares halted a three-day winning streak overnight on the back of disappointing earnings updates from some US companies. However, a rebound in oil prices in Asian deals helped limit losses across the region. Chinese shares closed a tad higher as gains in consumer and tech stocks outweighed losses in the resource sector. Japanese shares rose for the fourth day as the yen hit a two-week low against the dollar after reports that the Bank of Japan may expand its negative interest rate policy beyond its current applications at its upcoming policy meeting next week.