Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks oscillated between positive and negative terrain and ended with gains of around two tenth of a percent. Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start and traded slightly in green in early deals. The sentiments were upbeat after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted a normal monsoon this year and said there is a very less possibility of a deficient monsoon. Though the IMD pegged the season’s rainfall in the lower end of the normal range, at 97% of the long period average (LPA), its prediction matches private forecaster Skymet weather’s forecast, raising hopes of a normal monsoon. Separately, with sustained recovery in private investment and private consumption, the World Bank in its latest report has forecasted that India’s economic growth will accelerate to 7.3% in the year 2018 from 6.7% in 2017. It added that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate will increase further to 7.5% in the following two years - 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, realty stocks were buzzing on private report stating that housing sales increased by 33% in nine major cities during the March quarter this year to 80,000 units. Sales were at 59,936 units in the first quarter of last year. The report added that barring Hyderabad, housing sales have risen in all nine cities during January-March 2018. Sales rose maximum in Noida by 69 percent during January-March 2018 to 7,933 units compared with the year-ago period, followed by Gurgaon where sales were up by 62 percent at 1,964 units.

However, selling crept in on media report that the shortage of currency reported in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh in the past few weeks has spread to a few more states. There were complaints of cash shortages in eastern Maharashtra, Bihar and Gujarat on Monday. The shortage is being felt despite currency in circulation crossing the pre-demonetization level. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that there is more than adequate currency in circulation and with the banks. Separately, former President Pranab Mukherjee said that the country’s demographic dividend runs the risk of turning into a demographic disaster if employment is not generated. He added that the country has achieved an economic growth of 6-8% in the last couple of decades but the inequality among different classes of the society is still huge and unacceptable. But, the markets erased all of their losses and entered into green terrain to finish with modest gains.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed. China’s economic growth held steady at 6.8% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in March, buoyed by retail sales and investment. Data released showed growth in the world’s second-largest economy was down slightly from 2017’s full-year expansion of 6.9% but in line with the quarter ending in December. The European markets were trading in green. According to official data published, workers in Britain have yet to see their wages rise more quickly than inflation despite unemployment falling to its lowest rate since 1975.

Back home, aviation stocks closed in green on reports that the civil aviation ministry is considering a steep reduction on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry. At present, the MRO industry is taxed at 18%, making aircraft servicing in India costlier than other countries. Jewellery maker stocks were buzzing in today’s trade ahead of Akshaya Tritiya.

The BSE Sensex ended at 34383.23, up by 77.80 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 34229.83 and 34434.14. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.13%, Consumer Durables up by 1.11%, Power up by 1.06%, FMCG up by 1.05% and Utilities up by 0.92%, while IT down by 0.46%, TECK down by 0.43%, Capital Goods down by 0.28%, Auto down by 0.24% and Healthcare down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.09%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.12%, NTPC up by 1.87%, ICICI Bank up by 1.46% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.07%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.75%, Wipro down by 1.53%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.19%, Sun Pharma down by 1.12% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.81% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of public criticism mounted by both - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and finance ministry - against the other after PNB scam, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has expressed need for close coordination between these two institutions and added that the fiscal stance would be loosen if the central bank tightens monetary policy to follow its duty.

Kumar pointed out to the need of a macro-economic team in the country to work together and added that Niti Aayog, the finance ministry and RBI, along with other economic policy makers, can be a part of this team which works in close coordination and express hopes that working this way will result into faster progress.

Niti Aayog Vice Chairman has soothed worries over fiscal deficit, saying that the 3.5% fiscal deficit target, which deviates from the original fiscal consolidation road map, is not very big and affirmed that India is better placed on other macro-economic indicators like inflation, forex reserves and the current account gap. He also expressed confident that economic growth will touch 7.5% in 2018-19, even as other bodies like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank peg it to come up to 7.2%.

Besides, Kumar said that the panel is preparing a growth road map for the country till 2022, wherein the GDP growth average for the five-year period has to touch 8.5% and highlighted that India has everything going in its favour in order to accelerate growth.

The CNX Nifty ended at 10547.75, up by 19.40 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 10495.65 and 10560.45. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 2.79%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.18%, Titan Co up by 1.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.55% and ICICI Bank up by 1.50%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.83%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.78%, Wipro down by 1.62%, Sun Pharma down by 1.23% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.03% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 15.64 points or 0.22% to 7,213.84, Germany’s DAX increased 94.72 points or 0.76% to 12,486.13 and France’s CAC increased 23.98 points or 0.45% to 5,336.94.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Tuesday as a raft of Chinese data proved to be a mixed bag and investors watched developments in Syria amid expectations that last week's US-led missile strikes on the country would not lead to a broader escalation in the conflict. Chinese shares ended lower after the release of mixed data. Official data showed that China's gross domestic product rose 6.8 percent in the first quarter on a yearly basis - in line with expectations and down from 6.9 percent in the previous quarter. China's industrial production and fixed asset investment rose in March, but missed forecasts, while retail sales growth exceeded expectations. Industrial output advanced an annual 6.0 percent in March and retail sales jumped 10.1 percent from last year, while fixed asset investment climbed an annual 7.5 percent. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended on a flat note as the dollar softened against the yen ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump.