Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded jubilantly throughout the day and ended the session with gain of around one and half percent points. The final hour of trade pulled the markets higher with Sensex touching record high and Nifty surpassing above 9500 mark. Fresh spell of buying by foreign investors who were net sellers for several sessions, further recovery in the rupee, and roll over of position in F&O market, lifted the mood. The equity benchmarks made a positive start and traded in fine fettle in early deals as traders took support with report that the Union Cabinet approved a policy providing preference to domestically manufactured goods for government procurements, in a major step to boost the government’s Make in India initiative. It also approved the abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which has, for 25 years, been the single-point window for clearing foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals requiring government nod. The Cabinet yesterday approved the public procurement policy, opening up a potentially $600 billion-plus market for Indian manufacturing and services companies. Welcoming the government’s approval for a new public procurement policy, Industry body, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has said that domestic procurement is a legitimate tool under multilateral commitments and will promote value addition, drive manufacturing and create additional jobs in the country. The Union Cabinet has approved a policy that would mandate preference to local goods and services. Investors took note of foreign brokerage report that the GST rollout will add 40 bps to GDP, lower than earlier estimates as multiple tax rates and exemptions announced under it are far from an ideal structure and could blunt the growth impact of the reform process. It also said that the Goods and Services Tax will not have an upward impact on inflation.

On the global front, Asian markets closed in green, with mainland Chinese shares which were briefly unsettled by Moody’s downgrade of its rating on China, bounced back in green. Hong Kong shares closed in green even after Moody’s downgraded Hong Kong’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings shortly after cutting China’s ratings on Wednesday. European shares were trading in green helped by firmer banking shares and as corporate deals activity, after French aero firms Safran and Zodiac finally striking a deal, continued apace.

Back home, majority of sugar stocks closed in green after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) agreed to fix the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane at Rs 255 per quintal for the new sugar season (October-September).

The BSE Sensex ended at 30732.44, up by 430.80 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 30352.26 and 30793.43. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.33%, while Small cap index was up by 2.04%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 3.36%, Bankex up by 2.54%, Industrials up by 2.48%, IT up by 2.27% and Realty up by 2.04%, while Healthcare down by 1.63% was the sole loser on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 4.91%, ICICI Bank up by 3.44%, Infosys up by 2.98%, HDFC Bank up by 2.59% and TCS up by 2.43%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Lupin down by 7.34%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.47%, Cipla down by 2.75%, Sun Pharma down by 1.56% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.38% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has welcomed the government’s commitment to reforms, with the abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and the approval for the much-awaited strategic partnership model. CII noted that these will contribute to the country’s growth and reassures investors that ease of doing business remains a high priority for the government.

On the decision of phasing out of 25- year-old FIPB, CII said that the move would take Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to greater heights and reinforce the attractiveness of India as a viable business destination.  It further said that the move would streamline the process of FDI approvals, easing the flow of foreign capital into the country.

Industry body further said that the forging of strategic partnership for defence under the 'Make in India' initiative would give a fillip to indigenisation of India's defence industry and pave the way for greater transfer of technology from foreign firms to domestic partners in India.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9501.50, up by 140.95 points or 1.51% after trading in a range of 9379.20 and 9523.30. There were 42 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.11%, Vedanta up by 3.57%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.33%, ICICI Bank up by 3.24% and IndusInd Bank up by 3.06%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Lupin down by 7.20%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.73%, Cipla down by 2.42%, Sun Pharma down by 1.86% and Power Grid down by 0.75% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.87 points or 0.1% to 7,522.77, Germany’s DAX increased 7.59 points or 0.06% to 12,650.46 and France’s CAC increased 15.68 points or 0.29% to 5,357.02.

Asian equity markets ended in green on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting indicated another rate hike is likely in June, but is conditional on recent economic softness proving transitory. The Fed also indicated that its balance sheet would be trimmed. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks rose as the strong-yen trend paused, while a surge in index-heavyweights such as SoftBank supported sentiment. But gains were limited as the dollar-yen stayed in a narrow range after the US Federal Reserve dialed down on some of the more hawkish policy expectations in the market. Chinese stocks rose for the second straight session, a day after Moody's downgraded the credit rating of the world's second largest economy. Hong Kong shares ended higher even after Moody's downgraded Hong Kong's local and foreign currency issuer ratings shortly after cutting China's ratings on Wednesday. The markets in Indonesia are closed for the Ascension Day holiday.