Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded in positive territory but with volatility and closed in green with Nifty closing above 9100 mark. With the F&O expiry just around the corner, the equities are expected to trade with volatile sentiments in the immediate future. The equity benchmarks made a positive start in early deals as traders took some encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley statement terming the GST bill revolutionary and hoped all the political parties would pass the related bills through consensus in the current session of Parliament. Introducing four bills to give effect to the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Jaitley said the legislations will have to be passed by Parliament and one by each of the state assemblies to turn India into one market with a single tax rate. Allaying apprehension of spike in prices of goods and commodities after the roll out of the GST, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley added that the tax rates will be kept at the current levels so as not to have any inflationary impact. Some buying also crept in on report that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to grow in the range of 7.5-8 percent next year if monsoon remains normal. Care ratings, the global credit rating agency, in its latest report expects GDP growth to accelerate to 8 percent next financial year as against 7.1 percent in this year as per the latest CSO estimate and added that the monsoon will be the only domestic risk factor which may scupper this.

Meanwhile, putting a final lid on the Planning era, the Niti Aayog is gearing up to launch the three-year action plan from April 1 after the end of 12th Five Year Plan on March 31. Also, the government will borrow Rs 3.72 lakh crore from the market in the first six months of the next fiscal beginning April. The borrowing represents 64% of the full-year borrowing target. The April-September borrowing is slightly more than previous year because the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India expect spending to pick up pace early. 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, taking support from Wall Street overnight. Hong Kong stocks pared early gains to end slightly higher, as weakness in property shares offset buying in shipping firms and index heavyweight Tencent. Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato said labour market reform and other measures to boost Japan’s growth potential must accompany monetary easing to raise the country’s low long-term inflation expectations. Japanese retail sales were effectively flat in February as consumers cut back on food and durable goods after employers offered the lowest spring wage increases in four years. European markets were trading mostly in green amid reports that Britain has set to formally trigger divorce proceedings with the European Union it joined in 1973.

Back home, select auto manufacturer stocks including two wheelers & three wheelers manufacturer closed in red after Supreme Court banned the sale of BS-III vehicles, saying that the health of citizens is more important than the commercial interests of auto manufacturers. The apex court directed that no BS-III vehicle shall be registered from April 1 and turned down the plea of automobile manufactures to allow them to dispose of 8.2 lakh such vehicles.

The BSE Sensex ended at 29543.53, up by 134.01 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 29439.42 and 29554.39. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.80%, Consumer Durables up by 1.33%, Bankex up by 0.82%, Capital Goods up by 0.76% and Metal up by 0.72%, while Realty down by 0.59%, Healthcare down by 0.52%, Auto down by 0.36%, Oil & Gas down by 0.02% and Utilities down by 0.01% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.07%, ICICI Bank up by 1.88%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.63%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.35% and Asian Paints up by 1.13%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.94%, Sun Pharma down by 1.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.72%, NTPC down by 0.64% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow in the range of 7.5-8 percent next year if monsoon remains normal. Care ratings, the global credit rating agency, in its latest report expects GDP growth to accelerate to 8 percent next financial year as against 7.1 percent in this year as per the latest CSO estimate and added that the monsoon will be the only domestic risk factor which may scupper this.

Care ratings also stated that the government is taking its efforts to rollout the much awaited the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1 and it should give confidence to the investors and added that other reform measures including GST should augur well for the markets and the interest of foreign portfolio investors (FPI) should be higher. It added that the overall FPI inflows should move into the range of $ 15-20 billion in fiscal 2017 with equity dominating with $ 10-15 billion and debt with $ 5 billion.

The report however said that debt flows would be contingent on the interest rate differential between the Fed induced interest rates in the US and domestic rates and domestic rates should remain stable at least in the first half of fiscal 2018. It further said that the RBI will take inflation and the monsoon progress into consideration to cut the rates.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9147.65, up by 46.85 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 9109.10 and 9153.15. There were 29 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 6.07%, SBI up by 2.34%, ICICI Bank up by 1.91%, HCL Technologies up by 1.64% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.42%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.68%, Sun Pharma down by 1.80%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.33%, Grasim Industries down by 0.91% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.82% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX increased 50.25 points or 0.41% to 12,199.67, France’s CAC increased 5.28 points or 0.1% to 5,051.48, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 3.68 points or 0.05% to 7,339.74.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday as the yen weakened on downbeat retail sales data and oil extended overnight gains, buoyed by disruptions to Libyan crude production and a more positive OPEC attitude towards extending production cuts. Japanese shares closed marginally higher as gains in energy stocks were offset by losses in the banking and realty sectors. While the yen continued to slide, retail sales data disappointed investors. Sales rose 0.2 percent in February from the previous month, official data showed, missed forecasts for 0.3 percent growth. Though, Chinese shares fell slightly amid concerns about liquidity and tighter regulation to curb speculation in the housing market.