Post Session: Quick Review

The equity benchmarks traded on a firm note in a narrow range throughout the day and ended in green as sustained inflows of foreign fund boosted the domestic sentiments. The equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening in early deals as traders took some encouragement after the government tabled four Bills related to the proposed comprehensive indirect tax in Parliament for passage, working under a self-imposed July 1 deadline for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll-out. SBI Research report highlighted that manufacturing improved in March after a three month decline, while various government measures are likely to push up activity in the infrastructure sector going forward. The yearly SBI Composite Index, one of leading indicators for manufacturing activity in the Indian economy, bounced back to above 50-mark level to 50.3 after 3-months of decline. Buying also crept in on report that Indian consumers are the most optimistic lot in the Asia-Pacific region, which marked it mainly to upbeat sentiment over robust pace of economic growth and stable macroeconomic fundamentals. According to the MasterCard ‘Well-Being Index’ 2017, India is very optimistic with a score of 75 points -- the highest level of optimism in the second half of 2016 -- out of the 18 countries surveyed in the Asia Pacific. India is followed by the Philippines at 73 points, Indonesia and Vietnam 71.4 each and China 68.2.

Some support also came with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that GST will not only usher in a transparent tax system thereby reducing cascading of taxes, but will also result in reduction of prices for consumers and broaden the tax base in the country. Describing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill as revolutionary, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hoped all the political parties would pass the related bills through consensus in the current session of Parliament. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. March 2017 series to next month i.e. April 2017 series. The near month March 2017 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. March 30, 2017.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly in green, as investors shrugged off the disappointment from the current US administration’s ability to push through legislation to repeal and replace the Obama-era health-care law. European shares were trading in green boosted by positive results and deal making, as stock markets recovered from a sentiment-fuelled dip in the previous session.

The BSE Sensex ended at 29411.56, up by 174.41 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 29301.22 and 29442.18. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.71%, while Small cap index was up by 0.63%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.05%, Auto up by 1.04%, Utilities up by 0.93%, Power up by 0.91% and Bankex up by 0.87%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.47%, Energy down by 0.37% and Realty down by 0.28% were the losers on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.39%, HDFC up by 1.91%, Asian Paints up by 1.64%, Tata Motors up by 1.40% and SBI up by 1.13%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.16%, Lupin down by 0.83%, ITC down by 0.46%, Coal India down by 0.41% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.31% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to deal with the issues of rising costs impacting global competitiveness of exporters, the Commerce Ministry is working on a proposal to set up a separate logistics unit. Currently, there is no single department or ministry in the country to look at all the aspects related to logistics covering various modes of shipment such as sea, roads and railways.

Indian goods are less competitive in the global markets as logistics costs of exports are very high in the country. Exporters too have demanded for a specific department to deal with the issues related to logistics. They are undertaking a study to look at issues like shortcomings in logistics and ways to address that.

The proposed unit will tackle the issues such as rising costs in the sector impacting exporters. Besides, the Commerce Ministry has suggested to the Railways Ministry that it needs to clearly distinguish between consignments for exports, imports and the general category in terms of freight rates to increase the logistics competitiveness of exporters. India is aiming to increase its share in global trade from 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent by 2020.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9106.75, up by 61.55 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 9079.80 and 9110.40. There were 40 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.08%, Axis Bank up by 3.51%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.96%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.69% and Tata Power up by 2.18%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.75%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.19%, ONGC down by 1.06%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.40% and ITC down by 0.39% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 3.89 points or 0.05% to 7,297.39, Germany’s DAX increased 73.42 points or 0.61% to 12,069.49 and France’s CAC increased 2.67 points or 0.05% to 5,020.10.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday as investors shrugged off US President Donald Trump's drubbing on health care and turned hopeful that the White House will take a lead role in crafting legislation to overhaul the US tax code, which has bi-partisan support across the country. Japanese shares rebounded from a six-week low as oil prices edged up in Asian deals and the dollar recovered from its lowest level since November against the yen on hopes Trump would be able to enact promised tax cuts and infrastructure spending. Though, Chinese shares ended lower on concerns about tightening liquidity conditions after the central bank refrained from injecting short-term funds into the banking system for the third session in a row. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) skipped open market operations again on Tuesday, saying liquidity levels in the banking system were ‘appropriate’ and there was no reason to inject more funds. The Indonesian market was closed for the Hindu New Year holiday.