Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded with volatility, but in green terrain, throughout the day and ended with a gain of around half a percent amid easing concerns about a potential trade war. Markets started the session on an optimistic note as traders took some encouragement with the government’s decision to bring down market borrowings during the first-half of FY19 following careful assessment of its financial needs. The Centre will raise a gross Rs 2.88 lakh crore from market borrowings in the first half of the fiscal. It has also chosen to introduce shorter duration government securities and will also an additional Rs 25,000 crore from the National Small Savings Fund against the Budgeted Rs 75,000 crore to cut down its requirement for fund raising. Investors also took some support with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the country is well poised to click a growth rate of 7-8 per cent and with focus on start-ups, MSMEs and infrastructure investment it can step on to higher growth pedestal. However, traders pared some of their initial gains later in the trade as they remained on sidelines ahead of the fiscal deficit data to be released on March 28. Also, the expiry of the current month futures and options contracts are due on Wednesday and positions will be rolled over to next month. Despite some profit booking markets managed to end the session above their crucial 33,100 (Sensex) and 10,150 (Nifty) bastions. Market-men also took note of the report that over 1,200 fresh foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were registered with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during April-January period of fiscal year 2017-18, driven by their continued interest in Indian equity, bonds and real estate.

On the global front, Asian markets ended higher, as reports that the United States and China were negotiating to avert a trade war whetted investors’ appetite for riskier assets. The European markets were trading in green in early deals on Tuesday after soaring gains in Asia and on Wall Street as global trade war fears eased.

Back home, shares of public sector banks edged higher after the government announced lower-than-expected borrowing programme for the first half of the financial year 2018-19 (FY19). Telecom stocks remained mixed after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) latest report stating that adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the sector fell 7.5%, reflecting continuing financial stress in the debt-laden sector.

The BSE Sensex ended at 33189.94, up by 123.53 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 33077.13 and 33371.04. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 1.13%, while Small cap index was up by 1.38%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.60%, PSU up by 1.57%, Basic Materials up by 1.31%, Capital Goods up by 1.20% and Healthcare up by 1.02%, while Telecom down by 1.12% was the only losing index on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.90%, Indusind Bank up by 1.37%, Asian Paints up by 1.24%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.22% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.15%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.93%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.08%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76%, HDFC down by 0.58% and Tata Motors down by 0.39% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, stressing on the need for a radical change at the state and district levels to improve the present situation, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that India’s Gross domestic product (GDP) is growing at the rate of 7-8 per cent and the same needs to be reflected on the human development index (HDI) wherein the country stands at 131st position out of 188 nations.

Kant has also expressed need of collaboration between industry associations while attending to the huge challenge that lies in improving HDI rank and in bringing the transformation that the country needs. He further said that industry associations should take steps to contribute to the development of districts, as transformation of 115 backward districts to middle status will lead to demand generation.

NITI Aayog CEO pointed out various areas like education, health and nutrition, where the industry should focus more, especially at district level. He further highlighted his department’s efforts towards improvement of districts, noting that NITI Aayog is capturing real-time data on the progress of the key performance indicators of the 115 districts and will rank them on regular basis.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10182.05, up by 51.40 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 10139.65 and 10207.90. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indian Oil Corporation up by 4.43%, Indiabulls Housing up by 3.86%, HPCL up by 3.57%, Hindalco up by 3.49% and SBI up by 2.80%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.02%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.92%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.53%, Tata Motors down by 0.47% and HDFC down by 0.38% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC added 75.01 points or 1.48% to 5,141.29, UK’s FTSE 100 surged 128.76 points or 1.87% to 7,017.45 and Germany’s DAX was up by 234.86 points or 1.99% to 12,022.12.

Asian stocks closed in green on Tuesday amid improved risk appetite as trade-war worries eased following reports that the US and China are willing to negotiate trade-related issues and avert a potential trade war. Stressing that negotiations with China are ongoing, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday that he is ‘cautiously hopeful’ a trade agreement can be reached. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also indicated that the US and China should maintain negotiations to avoid a trade war. Japanese shares led regional gains as the yen lost ground for a second straight session on the back of improved risk appetite. Further, Chinese shares snapped a four-session losing streak as tech stocks surged after recent losses on Facebook's data security issues.