Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded under pressure throughout the day and ended with major cut. Bears tightened grip on Dalal Street with Nifty losing around 140 points, while Sensex slipping by more than 450 points. Sensex and Nifty witnessed biggest one day fall in more than one month. Indian equity benchmarks made pessimistic start and traded in red in early deals on Friday. The markets were under pressure amid political upheaval after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally decided to quit the NDA government. TDP formally decided to quit the NDA, days after two of its ministers quit the Narendra Modi government protesting for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh. TDP had also planned to move a motion of no-confidence today in the Lok Sabha, but the Speaker adjourned the House until Monday. Sentiments also remained dampened on report that India’s trade deficit for February 2018 was estimated at $11,979.21 million, 25.8% higher than the $9,521.73-million deficit reported during February 2017. Exports from the country rose 4.48% in dollar terms during February this year compared to the same month of the last fiscal. But, in rupee terms, export growth was flat with a mere 0.27% rise, reflecting a dip in value of the Indian currency. Imports rose during the month under consideration and were 10.41% higher (in dollar terms).

Some concerns also came with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations’ (FIEO) statement that the US’ decision to challenge Indian export subsidy schemes at World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an area of grave concern for domestic traders and the government should phase out these incentives. Meanwhile, traders also remained cautious with World Bank observing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in India, to be relatively more complex compared with similar taxes on value added across other countries. The complexity of India’s GST, it said in a report, was due to higher tax rates and large number of tax slabs compared with similar systems in other countries. The street shrugged off IMF’s report which highlighted that India should see its growth picking up this year after two transitory shocks - the demonetization and the GST - while China’s growth is likely to fall gradually.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mostly in red as report of more chaos in the Trump administration tested investors’ nerves, already frayed by fears that US tariffs could hurt the global economy and trigger a trade war. Political uncertainties are mounting in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is under pressure for suspicions of a cover-up in a controversial land sale. The European markets were trading mostly in green. Ratings agency Moody’s said Britain’s government might struggle to make the kind of cuts to public spending it has announced to keep on narrowing its budget deficit. 

The BSE Sensex ended at 33221.25, down by 464.29 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 33119.92 and 33691.32. There were 4 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.10%, while Small cap index was down by 1.02%. (Provisional)

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Consumer Durables up by 0.16%, while Metal down by 2.08%, Oil & Gas down by 1.97%, PSU down by 1.82%, Energy down by 1.81% and Power down by 1.70% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 0.99%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.77%, Yes Bank up by 0.46% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.20%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.62%, Tata Motors down by 3.70%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.59%, Asian Paints down by 3.11% and NTPC down by 2.88% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, emphasizing on efforts being taken by the government to boost manufacturing in the country, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Suresh Prabhu has said that India could become $5 trillion economy by 2025, provided that there is consistent growth in manufacturing, services and agricultural sectors.

Prabhu underlined key role of the private sector to create new business models and strategies and leverage new technologies in order to fuel growth in the Indian economy and gave assurance of government’s support to it, noting that government will act as the facilitator in this process. Besides, he said that the government is focusing on twelve Champion Sectors with a view to drive manufacturing growth and to create employment opportunities in India. He added that these sectors have potential to become global champions and drive double digit growth in manufacturing.

Further, heads of industry bodies CII, FICCI, IFC, NASSCOM and NitiAayog, have expressed need to focus on various issues like technological disruptions, challenges due to climate change, positive use of India’s demographic dividend, conscious effort to make India’s manufacturing sector a part of global value chain and recognizing the importance of small and medium scale enterprises to fuel India’s growth story.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10220.30, down by 139.85 points or 1.35% after trading in a range of 10180.25 and 10346.30. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.99%, Wipro up by 0.97%, Yes Bank up by 0.59%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.59% and HCL Tech up by 0.31%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.69%, Tata Motors down by 3.89%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.67%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.55% and BPCL down by 3.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.97 points or 0.18% to 7,152.73, Germany’s DAX increased 48.24 points or 0.39% to 12,393.80, while France’s CAC decreased 2.12 points or 0.04% to 5,265.14.

Asian markets closed mostly in red on Friday as trade-war worries persisted and reports suggested that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed US President Donald Trump's businesses, adding to the sense of continued political uncertainty in the US. Meanwhile, the White House denied reports that Trump has decided to remove White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster from the administration. Japanese shares closed lower, hurt by a firmer yen as investors fretted about US political uncertainty and official data showed Japan's industrial production declined more than initially estimated in January. Also, Chinese and Hong Kong stocks fell on concerns over the increasingly protectionist policies of the Donald Trump government.