Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded on a firm note throughout the day and ended with modest gains. Markets trimmed most of their gains in late afternoon session and came off intraday high. However, Sensex managed to hold 34,200 mark, while Nifty was comfortably above 10,450 mark. The market breadth was in favour of declines with one stock advancing against each declining one. Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start and traded in fine fettle in early deals. The sentiments were upbeat on report that the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by a healthy 7.1% in February as the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 77% of the index, grew at 8.7% in February as compared to almost flat growth of 0.7% in the same month a year ago. IIP had grown by 1.2% in February 2017. 

Separately, retail inflation eased to a five-month low in March, but remained above RBI’s medium-term target supporting views that monetary policy is likely to remain unchanged at the next review. The Consumer Price Index rose 4.28% in March from a year earlier. Some support also came with report that the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is expecting India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 7.3-7.7 per cent during the 2018-19 financial year. This is based on strengthening demand in the rural economy, including agriculture and non-farm activities, as well as better global growth climate. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president stated that the government should rationalize the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by reducing the number of slabs and cut corporate tax rate to 18%.

Meanwhile, a private report enlightened that corporate India announced mergers and acquisitions worth $1.5 billion in March, taking the deal tally for the first quarter of 2018 to $18.53 billion. The report added that March saw 31 M&A deals worth $1,499 million, down 92 per cent in value terms from the year-ago month when deals worth $23,822 million were announced by way of 28 such transactions. Traders also took some encouragement with global rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service’s latest report stating that economic growth in India is positive for asset-backed securities (ABS), as it supports the ability of borrowers to earn income and repay their loans. The stronger growth will support the ability of borrowers to earn income and repay loans backing ABS deals.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed. China’s exports growth unexpectedly fell in March, the first drop since February last year, raising questions about the health of one of the economy’s key growth drivers even as trade tensions rapidly escalate with the United States. The European markets were trading mostly in green as investors brace for earnings reports from US banks. The European Central Bank is finding out just how tricky its policy path could be in a year when political spats are overshadowing the economy.

Back home, oil marketing companies (OMCs) i.e., Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) closed in red after crude futures started moving towards $73 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex ended at 34200.02, up by 98.89 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 34103.53 and 34313.14. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.47%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.10%, Basic Materials up by 0.66%, Energy up by 0.59%, Healthcare up by 0.55% and Realty up by 0.47%, while Telecom down by 0.84%, FMCG down by 0.35%, Oil & Gas down by 0.20%, Capital Goods down by 0.20% and PSU down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 2.57%, Wipro up by 1.90%, Coal India up by 1.73%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.46% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.42%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, SBI down by 1.40%, Axis Bank down by 1.33%, ITC down by 0.61%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.61% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.59% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, credit growth of scheduled commercial banks has risen at 10.32 percent on year-on-year basis. According to the latest fortnight data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks' credit stood at Rs 86,50,714 crore as on March 30, 2018 as compared to Rs 78,41,466 crore as on March 31, 2017.

However, the data report showed that the growth in advances was slower than the growth reported in the previous fortnight ended March 16, 2018. In the previous fortnight, banks loan had witnessed a rise of 11.13 percent to Rs 83,77,444 crore from Rs 75,38,202 crore in the period ended March 17, 2017.

As per data, in line with credit growth, the deposits also jumped by 6.66 percent to Rs 1,14,74,989 crore as on March 30, 2018 from Rs 1,07,57,656 crore in the year-ago period. Earlier, in February 2018, non-food bank credit increased by 9.8 percent year-on-year basis as against an increase of 3.3 percent in February 2017, while credit to agriculture and allied activities increased by 9 percent in February 2018, same as in February 2017.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10483.70, up by 25.05 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 10451.45 and 10519.90. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.96%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 2.83%, Eicher Motors up by 2.62%, Hindalco up by 2.54% and Indiabulls Housing up by 2.33%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.06%, HCL Tech down by 2.01%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.64%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.55% and SBI down by 1.18% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX increased 70.5 points or 0.57% to 12,485.51, France’s CAC increased 17.21 points or 0.32% to 5,326.43, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.05 points or 0.07% to 7,253.29.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Friday as Chinese trade data proved to be a mixed bag and investors awaited earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup and Wells Fargo & Co later in the day for direction. Geopolitical tensions eased somewhat after US President Donald Trump urged caution on an imminent strike against Syria and also tweeted that the US would rejoin the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact if the deal were substantially better than the one offered to former President Barack Obama. China's exports declined unexpectedly in March, while imports grew more-than-expected, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. In dollar terms, exports fell 2.7 percent year-over-year in March, confounding economists' forecast for a notable increase of 11.8 percent. Imports surged 14.4 percent from a year ago, faster than the expected spike of 12 percent. The trade deficit came in at $4.98 billion in March, in contrast to the expected surplus of $27.5 billion. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended higher to post third week of gains as higher US bond yields helped lift financials and exporters also surged on the back of a firmer dollar following Trump's comments on Syria and rejoining TPP.