Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on volatile note throughout the day and ended with cut of more than four tenth of a percent. Last hour of trade dragged the markets lower with Sensex breaching 33,000 level. The market breadth was in favour of declines with one stock advancing against four declining ones. Indian equity benchmarks traded in green terrain in early deals on Thursday. The street took some encouragement with a private report that Private Equity (PE) investments witnessed a two-fold jump in February with transactions worth $1.3 billion taking the deal tally for the first two months of this year to $2.3 billion. The report added that in February, there were 62 PE deals worth $1,330 million, while in the corresponding period last year there were 45 such transactions worth $588 million.

Separately, industry body FICCI said that the government’s move to extend the facility of hiring workers on fixed term employment to all sectors will boost job creation in the near future. The government has extended the facility of hiring workers on fixed term employment to all sectors for improving the ease of doing business for players intending to hire people for completing specified projects, tasks or orders. Meanwhile, select fertilizer stocks were buzzing in today’s trade after the government allowed 14 urea units, which could not meet the new energy norms under the 2015 policy, to continue with the existing norms for a period of two years with token penalties. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the Fertilizer Ministry’s proposal to extend the present energy norms for two years with token penalties for 14 urea units.

However, selling crept in on back of weak clues from European markets and sell-off in banking stocks. Oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) closed in red as crude oil prices rose on surprise weekly decline in US crude inventories which had already been bolstered by renewed geopolitical risk to global output. Telecom stocks slipped on report that telecom operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm have been served notices for exaggerated credit claims under the goods and services tax.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed. China gingerly raised a key short-term interest rate following the US Federal Reserve Bank’s move overnight, in a symbolic reminder that Beijing is keeping an eye on global market trends even as it cracks down on financial risks at home. President Donald Trump is poised to unveil sanctions against China for the theft of US intellectual property teeing up a second potential trade war in as many months. The European markets were trading in red. German business confidence deteriorated for the second consecutive month but remained at an overall high level, suggesting that Europe’s biggest economy will continue its solid upswing in the next months.

Back home, majority of sugar stocks closed lower on report that the wholesale sugar market ended on a steady note in the national capital with prices moving in a narrow range in limited deals and pegged at last levels. Market-men said ample stocks position against sporadic demand mainly kept the sweetner prices under pressure.

The BSE Sensex ended at 32989.97, down by 146.21 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 32981.66 and 33281.77. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.77%, while Small cap index was down by 1.07%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.89%, Metal up by 0.35% and Energy up by 0.28%, while Capital Goods down by 1.17%, Telecom down by 1.10%, Realty down by 1.09%, Industrials down by 1.07% and TECK down by 1.01% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.85%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.44%, Reliance Industries up by 1.20%, Tata Motors up by 1.18% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.98%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, SBI down by 2.32%, Wipro down by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.15%, ICICI Bank down by 2.05% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.94% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to improve productivity, quality of silk through high quality standards and for overall development of the silk sector, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved  ‘Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry’ for the next three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20, with a financial outlay of Rs 2161.68 crore. The scheme will be implemented by the Ministry through Central Silk Board (CSB).

The Scheme has four components such as initiatives for Research & Development (R&D), Seed Organizations & farmers extension centres, Coordination & Market Development for seed, yarn & silk products and the fourth one is Quality Certification System (QCS).  The scheme is expected to increase the silk production by around 8152 MTs from the level of 30348 MT during 2016-17 to 38500 MT by end of 2019-20 along with Women Empowerment promotion. It will also help to increase productive employment from 85 lakh to 1 crore persons by 2020.

Under the proposed scheme, the encouragement will be given to the Brand Promotion of Indian silk through quality certification by Silk Mark not only in the domestic market but in the Export market as well. Besides, Cocoon Testing Centres & Silk Testing Centres will be set up to promote high quality standards in silkworm seed, cocoon and raw silk and efforts will be strengthened for collaborating with NIFT and NID for support on design and product development.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10108.10, down by 47.15 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 10105.40 and 10207.85. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.97%, Vedanta up by 1.66%, Reliance Industries up by 1.34%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.29% and Tata Motors up by 1.24%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.87%, HPCL down by 3.01%, SBI down by 2.62%, Wipro down by 2.49% and ICICI Bank down by 2.11% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 37.5 points or 0.53% to 7,001.47, Germany’s DAX decreased 112.95 points or 0.92% to 12,196.20 and France’s CAC decreased 45.53 points or 0.87% to 5,194.21.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced its widely anticipated decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points and projected three rate hikes in 2018, citing a strong outlook for US economic growth. Underlying sentiments remained somewhat cautious amid expectations that US president Donald Trump will introduce tariffs on Chinese goods for approximately $50 billion. Japanese shares ended higher in choppy trade as pension funds and retail investors lapped up beaten-down shares, helping offset a strong yen and mixed manufacturing data. The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in March, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed with a manufacturing PMI score of 53.2, down from 54.1 in February. Meanwhile, Chinese shares ended lower after the People's Bank of China raised its short-term interest rates for the first time this year in reaction to the Fed's rate hike. The central bank lifted its 7-day reverse repo rate by 5 basis points to 2.55 percent from 2.50 percent. This was the first rate action after the appointment of Yi Gang as central bank governor.