Post Session: Quick Review

Erasing all of their initial gains, key equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade flat on Tuesday, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of outcome of Federal Reserve meeting. Markets made a gap-up opening, as sentiments remained up-beat with report that the core sector in the country grew 5% in March, a significant rise from the 1% growth registered in February on account of a favourable base effect. Also, core sector growth for the year ended March hit a five-year high, registering a growth rate of 4.5% over the previous year. Traders also took some encouragement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that India was never a more promising investment destination than it is today. He said that today, Indian economy is the fastest growing major economy in the world. In addition to maintaining this pace, our focus is to remove the inefficiencies from the system.

However, markets completely lost their early momentum and entered into red terrain in late morning session, as traders booked profit at higher levels amid weak corporate results from some of the companies like JSW Energy and Ambuja Cement. The rupee too surrendered its initial gains but was still trading higher by 6 paise at 64.18 against the US dollar at the time of equity markets closing. Some buying in final hour of trade helped benchmarks to end flat. Traders took some sense of relief with report that India’s manufacturing sector growth improved for the fourth consecutive month in April. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)-a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance- remained at 52.5 in April to match March’s reading.

Global cues too remained supportive with European counters making a firm start, as investors reacted to fresh earnings and awaited the upcoming French presidential vote. Asian markets ended mostly in green, helped by rising optimism on the technology industry and easing concerns over North Korea, while the dollar edged up to one-month high versus the yen.

Back home, Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Anthony Lianzuala has said that the government is confident of achieving the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 percent for 2016- 17. On the sectoral front, stocks related to realty sector edged higher, as the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) came into effect from May 1. The Act would bring about a paradigm shift in the way the real estate industry operates and improve the level of transparency and accountability of developers. Select auto stocks too remained on buyers’ radar after posting jumps in April sales.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty rose by around ten points to end above the psychological 9,300 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex gained marginally to hold its psychological 29,900 mark. Broader markets outperformed benchmarks and ended with a gain of around one third of a percent.

The market breadth remained in favour of decliners, as there were 1,352 shares on the gaining side against 1,517 shares on the losing side while 181 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 29921.18, up by 2.78 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 29804.12 and 30069.24. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.31%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.99%, Consumer Durables up by 1.21%, Oil & Gas up by 1.05%, Consumer Disc up by 0.82% and PSU was up by 0.64%, while Telecom down by 1.22%, Healthcare down by 0.78%, Metal down by 0.57%, Capital Goods down by 0.56% and Power was down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.79%, ONGC up by 2.66%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.70% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.38%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.09%, Reliance Industries down by 1.59%, Sun Pharma down by 1.33% and NTPC down by 1.28% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, recovering from the one-year low growth rate of 1% in February, India’s core sector growth accelerated to 5% in March 2017, on the back of a sustained growth in the steel and coal output, supported by a stable rise in natural gas production. According to that data released by the ministry of Commerce and Industry showed the combined Index of eight core industries stood at 202.9 in March, 2017, its cumulative growth during April-March, 2016-17 was 4.5%. The eight industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity - have a weight of 38% in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Among eight core sectors, Steel production having 6.68% weight jumped 11.0% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 increased by 9.3% over the corresponding period of previous year. Coal production having 4.38% weight rose by 10.0% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 increased by 3.6% over corresponding period of previous year.

Electricity generation having 10.32% weight advanced 5.9% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 increased by 5.1% over the corresponding period of previous year. The Natural Gas production having 1.71% weight surged by 8.3% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 declined by 1.1% over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 5.22% weight increased by 0.9% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 declined by 2.5% over the corresponding period of previous year.

On the other hand, Cement production having 2.41% weight declined 6.8% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 decreased by 1.3% over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having 1.25% weight dropped by 0.8% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 increased by 1.8% over the corresponding period of previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 5.94% weight declined 0.3% in March, 2017 over March, 2016, while its cumulative index during April to March, 2016-17 increased by 5.4% over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9313.80, up by 9.75 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 9269.90 and 9352.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 5.47%, ONGC up by 3.14%, HDFC up by 3.10%, BPCL up by 2.86% and Maruti Suzuki up by 2.77%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.59%, Lupin down by 2.58%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.22%, ACC down by 2.06% and Reliance Industries down by 1.77% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX rose 12.24 points or 0.1% to 12,450.25, France’s CAC increased 17.95 points or 0.34% to 5,285.28 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 36.34 points or 0.5% to 7,240.28.

Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday as the yen weakened for a fourth straight session and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House is making steady progress on its tax reform plan. Also, worries over North Korea eased somewhat after US President Donald Trump said that he would be ‘honored’ to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un under the right circumstances to defuse tensions over the country's nuclear program. Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve begins its two-day monetary policy meeting later today, with many expecting the US central bank to leave interest rates unchanged. However, traders will examine the accompanying statement for clues about future rate hikes. Japanese shares ended higher as the yen extended its losing trend and a survey showed Japan's services sector continued to expand in April, although at a slower pace. Though, Chinese shares ended lower after a private survey showed China's manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in April on weak output and new orders. The Caixin manufacturing PMI hit a seven-month low of 50.3 in the month.