Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded jubilantly on account of buying in frontline blue-chip counters amid positive global cues and Nifty surpassed 9200 mark. The equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening in early deals taking support from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economy is pegged to grow 7.2% in 2017 and 7.7% in 2018. He pointed to huge investment opportunity in India’s infrastructure space and the rest of emerging economies while urging New Development Bank to step up funding as existing multilateral lenders are unable to meet the demand. Some support also came after India’s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in March as output and new orders accelerated. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by IHS Markit, rose to 52.5 in March, from 50.7 in February. Output and new orders sub-indexes rose to their highest since October 2016, suggesting the world’s fastest growing major economy has largely recovered from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock decision in November to ban high-value currency notes. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal has expressed his confidence that the historic tax reform Goods and Services Tax (GST) will see 100 percent implementation from July 1, 2017. He also said that the Centre is already working on ironing out any road-block and even States are co-operating.  Separately, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that with the country’s exports recording healthy growth during the past few months, the shipments are expected to touch $270 billion by end of this fiscal. FIEO enlightened that during this challenging period, India witnessed double digit growth in exports in February after a long time. During the April-February period of the current fiscal, exports have grown by 2.52% to $245.4 billion.

On the global front, Asian markets closed in green, as investors look to the shape of US trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth. Japanese big manufacturers’ business confidence improved for a second straight quarter to hit a one-and-a-half year high in March, a sign the benefits of an export-driven economic recovery were broadening. While a private survey on China’s manufacturing came in below market expectations it still showed a healthy expansion after a similar survey by the government pointed to strong growth in the sector. European shares were trading mostly in green helped by stronger oil stocks, as investors begin a new quarter in the markets in subdued fashion.

The BSE Sensex ended at 29917.31, up by 296.81 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 29705.72 and 29924.89. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 1.27%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 3.55%, Industrials up by 2.16%, Energy up by 1.69%, Healthcare up by 1.01% and Oil & Gas up by 0.77%, while TECK down by 0.89%, Telecom down by 0.86% and IT down by 0.83% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.51%, Reliance Industries up by 3.97%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.82%, ICICI Bank up by 3.50% and GAIL India up by 2.27%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.17%, Wipro down by 1.59%, Infosys down by 0.98%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.77% and TCS down by 0.74% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, signaling further improvement in the manufacturing sector, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)-a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance-rose to a five-months high in March owing to increase in production and new orders. The PMI stood at 52.5 in March 2017 compared to 50.7 in February 2017.

As per survey report, incoming new orders expanded at a stronger pace, thereby leading to quicker increase in production and input purchasing. Moreover, reversing the decline noted in February, manufacturing jobs rose in March as some firms hired additional employees in line with efforts to expand capacity. The report further said that even though both input costs and output charges rose further, inflation rates softened from those seen in February.

Further, the survey found that business confidence among manufacturers also improved in March, with almost one-fifth of panellists expecting output levels at their units to be higher in 12 months’ time. Forecasts of a pick-up in demand and the launch of new product lines were the main factors underpinning optimism.
Average input costs increased again, largely reflecting higher commodity prices. Indian manufacturers purchased greater quantities of inputs for use in the production process during March, with the latest upturn in buying levels the strongest in the current three-month sequence of expansion.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9242.95, up by 69.20 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 9192.40 and 9245.35. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.77%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 4.04%, Reliance Industries up by 3.96%, ICICI Bank up by 3.56% and HDFC up by 2.32%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.29%, Wipro down by 1.68%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.58%, BPCL down by 1.53% and IndusInd Bank down by 1.41% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.2 points or 0.1% to 7,330.12, Germany’s DAX increased 42.79 points or 0.35% to 12,355.66, while France’s CAC decreased 2.97 points or 0.06% to 5,119.54.

Asian equity markets ended in green on Monday, although regional gains remained capped somewhat amid the release of regional manufacturing surveys and ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the US. US President Donald Trump will meet with Xi for the first time on April 6 and 7 at Florida resort amid heightened tensions in Asia. Trump said that the US is prepared to act along if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program. Japanese shares ended higher in spite of yen strength after the latest BOJ Tankan survey of manufacturing and service companies showed an improvement in corporate sentiment in the first quarter of 2017. While, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in March, although at a slower pace, the latest survey from Nikkei showed with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.4, down from 53.3 in February. Further, Hong Kong shares ended higher after a private survey showed China's manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in March. Markets in China and Taiwan markets were closed for public holidays.