Post Session: Quick Review

Jubilant trade continued on the street for second consecutive day on account of sustained buying saluting Narendra Modi government’s three years in office with key benchmarks closing with gain of around eight tenth of a percent. The domestic equity benchmark indices scaled fresh lifetime high with the S&P BSE Sensex breaching 31,000 mark for the first time ever. The broader Nifty50 of National Stock Exchange, too, followed the suit and hit its lifetime high of 9,604.90 mark. Robust inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPI) to equities and debt have been supporting the domestic markets in May. FIIs and DIIs have poured Rs 8,218 crore and Rs 15,976 crore in equity and debt, respectively, so far in May. Their total net investment in equities and debt stood at Rs 15,862 crore, Rs 56,261 crore and Rs 22,758 crore in February, March and April, respectively. The equity benchmarks made an optimistic start in early deals as traders took support after domestic ratings agency enlightened that it expects GDP growth to rise marginally to 7.1 percent for the fourth quarter on a gradual remonetisation, up from the preceding quarter’s 7 percent. However, when compared on a year-on-year basis, it will be far slower than the 8.4 percent registered in January-March 2016. Separately, sentiments remained on upbeat mood with private weather forecaster Skymet’s statement that the increase in pre-monsoon showers across India is hinting at the arrival of monsoon 2017, which is not very far away. The weather forecasting agency predicted that monsoon will make an onset over Kerala by May 29, with a margin of error of three days. Some support also came on reports that India remains number one in the world as the world’s topmost green-field FDI investment destination for the second consecutive year. India attracted $62.3 billion in 2016, putting China and the US in second and third place respectively, as far as FDI inflows were concerned last year.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed, with Tokyo down as commodity-dependent shares fell on a stronger dollar, which makes imports priced in greenbacks more expensive. Factory activity in China is expected to have grown at its slowest pace in eight months, as previous stimulus fades and policymakers focus on tackling rising debt - a sign the cool down in manufacturing will persist through 2017. European stocks were trading mostly lower as investors focused on G-7 talks due to begin later in the day.

Back home, select Information Technology (IT) stocks closed in green after states in the US are looking to roll out the red carpet for Indian IT services companies, with Indiana offering as much as $31 million in incentives to Infosys as it looks to drum up jobs in the sector. The state plans to woo more Indian IT companies, which need to boost local hires given the political sensitivity over H-1B visas and immigration under President Donald Trump.

The BSE Sensex ended at 30976.24, up by 226.21 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 30745.57 and 31074.07. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 2.09%, while Small cap index was up by 1.56%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.26%, Energy up by 2.31%, Oil & Gas up by 2.24%, Basic Materials up by 2.01% and Industrials up by 1.76%, while Healthcare down by 0.79% was the sole loser on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 5.40%, Reliance Industries up by 2.69%, Power Grid up by 2.47%, ITC up by 2.27% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.91%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.36%, Cipla down by 2.71%, Lupin down by 2.18%, TCS down by 1.72% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.52% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, giving a big relief to the farmers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that farmers will continue to get short-term crop loan of up to Rs 3 lakh at subsidised interest rate of 7 per cent and the rate could go down to 4 per cent if they repay promptly in 2017-18.

Under the scheme which aims at providing short term credit to farmers at subsidised interest rate, a subvention of 2 per cent per annum is provided for short-term crop loan up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer provided the lending institutions make available short-term credit at the ground level at 7 per cent per annum to farmers. Besides, an additional interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum is available to the prompt payee farmers.

The central bank said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare initiated the process for continuation of the Interest Subvention Scheme and it has been decided by the government, as an interim measure, to implement the Interest Subvention Scheme for 2017 -18 till further instructions are received.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9586.00, up by 76.25 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 9495.40 and 9604.90. There were 37 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 5.50%, Hindalco up by 4.28%, Vedanta up by 4.26%, Indiabulls Housing up by 3.81% and BPCL up by 3.32%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.42%, Indian Oil down by 2.88%, Cipla down by 2.73%, Lupin down by 2.27% and TCS down by 1.97% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 49.66 points or 0.39% to 12,572.06, France’s CAC decreased 38.96 points or 0.73% to 5,298.20, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.38 points or 0.12% to 7,527.09.

Asian equity markets made a mixed closing on Friday, tracking the overnight plunge in crude oil prices after news that OPEC and other major exporters extended their current deal to limit oil production for nine months, disappointing investors who were anticipating deeper cuts. Investors also turned cautious following media reports that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and adviser of US President Donald Trump, has come under FBI scrutiny in its Russia probe. Japanese shares closed lower on the yen's gains against the US dollar. Meanwhile, China stocks reversed earlier losses to end the week higher on Friday, led by the blue-chip CSI300 index posting its best week in six months as suspected state-directed buying offset concerns over a surprise move by Moody's to cut the country's credit rating.