Indian markets stage a remarkable rally; Nifty ends above 9200 mark

Indian equity indices staged a magnificent performance on Monday by vehemently rallying close to a percentage point in the session and re-conquering their important psychological levels. Investor sentiments around the globe turned optimistic after the market’s favoured candidate, Emmanuel Macron, won the first round of the French presidential election. The outcome led to a mass unwinding of safe-haven trades in favour of riskier assets. On the domestic front, sentiments got a boost with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that Indian economy will grow at a clip of 7.5% this fiscal, up from 7.1% in the previous year, and it remains resilient with low inflation, fiscal prudence and low deficit. Participating in G-20 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting, Jaitley said emerging economies have become increasingly important in driving global growth, accounting for more than 75% of global expansion. Some support also came after Niti Aayog, the government's premier think-tank, indicating that India will be a Rs 469 lakh crore, or $7.2 trillion, economy by 2030. According to the report, the future is extremely bright for India's economic growth, primarily because of an extremely large GDP base and a projection of average 8% growth over the next 15 years.  Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon states to ‘speed up capital expenditure and infrastructure creation’ to spur economic growth. He also said the vision of ‘New India’ can only be realized through the combined efforts and cooperation of all the states. Meanwhile, Pharma stocks came under pressure after the regulator has warned the doctors of action if they fail to adhere to its guideline on prescribing the drugs only in generic names and writing prescriptions legibly.

On the global front, markets from Asia to Europe edged higher on Monday as risk appetite improved after pro-European Union candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of French elections. Centrist Emmanuel Macron took a big step toward the presidency in France on Sunday by winning the first round of voting and qualifying for the May 7 runoff alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen. The outcome lessens the risk of an anti-establishment shock on the scale of Britain's vote to quit the European Union with Macron widely tipped to win the final vote and keep France in the union. However, Chinese stocks tumbled more than a percent amid signs that Beijing will tolerate further market volatility as regulators increasingly clamp down on shadow banking and speculative trading. Meanwhile, oil prices recovered some lost ground in a relief rally amid expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output beyond June.

Back home, the local benchmark got off to a positive start as investors were largely influenced by the supportive leads from Asian markets. Thereafter, the frontline indices slowly and steadily started gathering steam and surged by around one and half a percent by late morning trades. The bourses further capitalized on the momentum and spurted in afternoon trades on the back of broad based bottom fishing in undervalued stocks amid strong opening of European markets. Eventually, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, got buttressed by over a percent to settle above the crucial 9,200 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index-Sensex accumulated around three hundred points and closed above the psychological 29,600 mark. Moreover, the broader markets too participated in the rally and closed with gains of around a percent. The market breadth remained optimistic, as there were 1829 shares on the gaining side against 1040 shares on the losing side, while 166 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 290.54 points or 0.99% to 29655.84, while the CNX Nifty was up by 98.55 points or 1.08% to 9,217.95. 

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 29681.33 and 29392.99, respectively and there were 21 stocks on gainers side as against 9 stocks on the losers side on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.95%, while Small cap index was up by 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.02%, Basic Materials up by 2.11%, Capital Goods up by 1.66%, Industrials up by 1.32% and Bankex up by 1.27%, while Healthcare down by 0.43% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 3.17%, Axis Bank up by 2.55%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.54%, HDFC Bank up by 2.41% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.33%, Cipla down by 1.30%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.31%, NTPC down by 0.30% and Power Grid down by 0.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance minister Arun Jaitley has strongly raised concerns over the Trump Administration's move to tighten the H-1B visa programmes with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. He raised the issue of H-1B visas for skilled professionals from India. He also outlined the significant contribution which Indian companies and professionals are making to the US economy and expressed the hope that the US administration will take this aspect into consideration while taking any decision. He also stressed that they should continue to do so, which is in the best interest of the two countries.

The minister has discussed the critical economic issues like Indo-US investment initiative, infrastructure collaboration and NIIF (National Investment and Infrastructure Fund), collaboration with the US for Smart Cities Development. He also highlighted the notable progress made in the India-US relations over the last few years and India's ambitious reform agenda which was creating new opportunities towards a deeper economic engagement between the two countries.

Last week, US President Donald Trump had signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its abuse and ensure that the visas are given to the most-skilled or highest paid petitioners, a decision that would impact India's $150 billion IT industry. The Indian IT industry expressed serious concerns over this as these visas were mainly used by domestic IT professionals for short-term work in America.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 9,225.40 and 9,130.55. There were 41 stocks in green as against 10 stocks in red on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ACC up by 7.53%, Grasim Industries up by 4.36%, Ultratech Cement up by 3.81%, GAIL India up by 3.10% and Ambuja Cement up by 3.01%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.33%, Cipla down by 1.33%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.08%, ZEEL down by 0.97% and NTPC down by 0.75% were the top losers.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 127.77 points or 1.8% to 7,242.32, Germany’s DAX increased 338.83 points or 2.81% to 12,387.40 and France’s CAC increased 214.81 points or 4.25% to 5,274.01.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Monday after Sunday's election results in France that came broadly in line with polls. Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen have won the first round of the French presidential election, triggering a runoff on May 7. Macron wants reforms to pep up France's economy and strengthen its position in Europe. On the other hand, Ms Le Pen intends to leave the euro and hold an in-out referendum on EU membership within six months of taking power. Japanese shares ended higher after the yen fell sharply against the dollar. Though, China stocks ended lower on Monday in their worst day this year amid signs that Beijing will tolerate further market volatility as regulators increasingly clamp down on shadow banking and speculative trading. Markets in Indonesia and Malaysia are closed for a holiday.