Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended the lackluster day of trade with marginal cut on Monday, as traders remained concerned over geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Market participants were also concerned about the domestic developments, where credit growth has plunged to a whopping six-decade low of 5.08 percent in the financial year 2016-17, as against 10.7 percent a year ago. Meanwhile, the industry body Assocham has said that the term ‘e-commerce’ may get misinterpreted in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law and the government must clearly outline the scope of ‘e-commerce’ under the GST, as the current definition can include even commodity derivatives exchanges where there is no actual delivery of goods.

However, losses remained capped as some support came with growth in exports of goods from India reaching its peak in the last month of fiscal 2016-17 with a 27.59 per cent increase, year-on-year, to $29.23 billion in March 2017. After two continuous years of decline, exports in April-March 2016-17 posted an increase of 4.71 per cent to $274.64 billion compared to the previous fiscal. Some solace also came with report that India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 5.7% for the month of March 2017 as against the 6.55% in the month of February 2017, as prices of fuel and manufactured items declined. Further, The Ministry has revised its January WPI inflation to 5.53% from 5.25%.

On the global front, Global shares dipped as soft US economic data hurt investors’ sentiments already frayed by worries over North Korea and upcoming French elections. Asian counters ended mostly in red, as heightened worries over tensions on the Korean Peninsula offset positive GDP data from China.

Back home, oil marketing companies traded mixed after the price of petrol has been hiked by Rs 1.39 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.04 a litre in sync with firming international rates. Select stocks of public sector enterprises (CPSEs) such as NLC India, NTPC, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) ended lower after the government invited law firms to act as legal advisers for divesting its shareholding in seven CPSEs. Besides these five, the government intends to sell equity shares in seven firms including Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), via an offer for sale (OFS).

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by over ten points to end below the psychological 9,150 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex declined by around fifty points but managed to hold its psychological 29,400 mark. Broader market, however, outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with a gain of around half a percent.

The market breadth was evenly divided, as there were 1,482 shares on the gaining side against 1,409 shares on the losing side while 198 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 29413.66, down by 47.79 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 29363.28 and 29494.08. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 8.82%, Oil & Gas up by 0.81%, Energy up by 0.69%, Consumer Disc up by 0.37% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.25%, while Metal down by 1.09%, Telecom down by 0.66%, Power down by 0.61%, TECK down by 0.53% and PSU was down by 0.51% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.01%, Reliance Industries up by 1.95%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.30%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.72% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.55%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.31%, Sun Pharma down by 2.51%, Coal India down by 1.84%, Asian Paints down by 1.81% and ONGC down by 1.08% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has approved the employees’ provident fund (EPF) interest rate at 8.65% for the 2016-17 fiscal, which will benefit over four crore subscribers of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).  According to EPFO estimates, the fund will see a surplus after providing 8.65% interest rate for the last fiscal.

As per the practice, the Central Board of Trustees’ (CBT) decision is concurred by the Finance Ministry after evaluating whether the EPFO would be able to provide the rate approved by trustees through its own income or not. Once the Finance Ministry ratifies the rate of interest approved by the CBT, it is credited into the account of EPFO members for that particular financial year.

However, the Finance Ministry in its recommendation to the Labour Ministry has put a rider that the interest rate should not result in a deficit for the retirement fund. In December last year, a reluctant Finance Ministry had been nudging the Labour Ministry to lower the EPF rate to below 8.65% as approved by the EPFO trustees, as it wanted the interest to be aligned with the rates of small savings. Furthermore, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has been maintaining that the EPFO subscribers would be provided 8.65% rate of interest for 2016-17. Earlier, he had said that the CBT had decided to give 8.65% and added that they would have surplus of Rs 158 crore on providing 8.65%.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9139.30, down by 11.50 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 9120.25 and 9160.00. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 3.90%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.12%, Grasim Industries up by 2.05%, Reliance Industries up by 1.98% and Power Grid Corporation up by 1.15%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.25%, Bharti Infratel down by 3.01%, Sun Pharma down by 2.27%, Bosch down by 1.98% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.86% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets remained closed on account of Easter Monday.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in red on Monday as heightened worries over tensions on the Korean Peninsula and concerns about the upcoming French election offset positive GDP data from China. North Korea tested a missile which ‘blew up’ soon after launch, following a military parade over the weekend. The test came before US Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Seoul for a trip aimed at reassuring American allies in Asia. Chinese shares ended lower, as investors dumped stocks across the board after the country’s top securities regulator vowed to ‘brandish the sword’ and combat market misbehaviours. The markets were also hurt by growing worries that China's economic recovery, and thus the 'reflation trade', is ending, despite data showing the economy grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter, better than expected and the highest since July-September 2015. However, Japanese shares ended slightly higher in thin trade even as the yen benefited from soft US data and rising risk aversion in the wake of mounting geopolitical tensions. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today urged North Korea to refrain from taking further provocative actions, comply with U.N. resolutions and abandon its nuclear missile development. Hong Kong markets were closed for Easter Monday.