The Indian markets ended flat with a negative bias in last session. Today, the start of the new week is likely to be in green but cautiousness may persist with mixed regional cues and as a private survey has said that Indian economy has been losing momentum since middle of financial year 2014-15. The report termed the state level GDP data as “dodgy” and said that Indian economy is undergoing a pronounced slowdown. There will be buzz in the telecom stocks, as the telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that reserve prices worked out for the upcoming mega spectrum auctions are at “reasonable levels” and will result in a “successful” sale for the government. The pricing were determined and finalized by the telecom commission in accordance with prescribed procedures and after due consultation with regulator Trai. The infra stocks too will see some action, on a report that project cost of as many as 238 infrastructure projects, monitored by the Statistics Ministry, have overshot by Rs 1.6 lakh crore from their original estimates due to delays on account land acquisition forest clearances and other reasons.
Also, there will be some important earnings numbers. 8K Miles, HUL, Hinduja Forgings, MMFL etc. would be among the many to announce their quarterly numbers today.
The US markets ended in green on disappointing jobs data which led to speculation the Federal Reserve will further delay raising interest rates, but it also added to concerns about the strength of the economy. The Asian markets have made a mixed start on disappointing trade data from China, however the Japanese market has moved higher with the pullback in yen.
Back home, Indian Benchmark indices trimmed most of their intra-day losses and ended on flat note as gains in financial shares helped offset most of the losses in IT majors and select index heavyweights. Sentiments remained cautious ahead of a US payrolls report for April that could influence bets on future US rate hikes. Investors were also concerned over the slower pace of expansion last month in China's services sector, compared with March, which added to worries over China's disappointing manufacturing data and downgrades on growth and inflation forecast by the European Commission. On domestic front, sentiments remained down-beat on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 388.51 crore on May 05, 2016. Besides, depreciation in rupee value against the dollar also weighed on the sentiment. Indian rupee depreciated by four paise to trade at 66.59 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing due to fresh buying of the American currency by banks and importers. However, market participants got some comfort with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government is following the approach of 'Reform to Transform' through far-reaching structural reforms and has initiated several initiatives to boost investment climate and improve Ease of doing Business. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday, the European stocks fell modestly in early trade. Back home, the local benchmark got off to a weak start as investors turn jittery and booked profits amid weak cues from Asian markets ahead of the US employment data. The selling pressure accentuated in the mid morning trades as investors took to across the board risk aversion. Thereafter started the road to recovery for the bourses which kept slowly but steadily moving towards the neutral line. The frontline indices even managed to break into the positive terrain in final hour of trades but only for a moment as some mild profit booking followed by some modest covering ensured that the key gauges post only modest losses. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 33.71 points or 0.13% to 25228.50, while the CNX Nifty dropped 2.05 points or 0.03% to 7,733.45.
