Markets likely to open marginally in green on Thursday

Indian markets ended higher for third straight session on Wednesday amid continued buying by foreign investors. Today, the markets are likely to open marginally in green amid positive global cues. Market participants will be looking forward to Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to be released later in the day. Traders will be taking encouragement with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that it will inject long-term liquidity worth $5 billion into the system through foreign exchange swap arrangement with banks for three years, in order to meet the durable liquidity needs of the system. Also, there will be some support with report that the private companies in manufacturing sector posted a 24.9% growth in net profit in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal on annual basis, benefitting from lower tax provisions. Some support may come with report that the RBI has relaxed norms for imports of capital and non-capital goods by raising the trade credit limit to $150 million under the automatic route. However, it has reduced the all-inclusive cost (all-in-cost) for overseas loans to benchmark rate plus 250 basis points (bps) from the earlier 350 bps. Traders may take note of minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad’s statement that India could be a $3 trillion digital economy in the next four to five years. That is the goal they have set. Digital India is designed to empower ordinary Indians. Their idea is to make India the biggest manufacturing hub in electronics with 1crore employment in the electronics sector and 35-40 lakhs in the software sector. Meanwhile, markets regulator SEBI has came out with the framework and timeline for the counter offer process. The counter offer is made in case the price discovered through reverse book building (RBB) is not acceptable to the promoter or the acquirer. There will be some buzz in the auto sector stocks with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) of India’s data stating that the auto industry’s retail sales in February dropped 8.06%, as weak consumer demand continues for the sixth straight month. The total auto sales in February were 1,452,078, compared to 1,579,349 units last year.

The US markets ended in green on Wednesday after economic data showed fresh signs of stability in the manufacturing sector and muted inflation. Asian markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday as investors await data from China for clues about the health of its economy.

Back home, extending their northward journey for third straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Wednesday’s trade with a gain of around half a percent, surpassing their crucial 37,700 (Sensex) and 11,300 (Nifty) levels. Markets started the session on cautious note as traders remained concern with weak macro-economic data. The latest data from Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) slipped to 1.7% in January from 7.5% a year ago. Subdued performance of the manufacturing sector, especially capital and consumer goods, mainly pulled down the growth in industrial production. Besides, retail inflation rose to four-month high of 2.57% in February. Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 1.97% in January and 4.44% in February 2018. Market participants also remained anxious as former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan warned that capitalism is under serious threat of a revolt as the economic and political system has stopped providing for the people, especially after the 2008 global financial meltdown. Markets gained traction and entered into green terrain with report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would infuse Rs 12,500 crore into the system through open market operations (OMOs) on March 14. Based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the RBI has decided to conduct purchase of the government securities under OMOs. Key gauges extended gains in late trade with private report that foreign investments will continue to increase in the Indian market. It noted that there is nothing wrong with the economic outlook in India with inflationary pressure and the number of houses forecasting that the RBI will cut the repo rate a number of times this year, one should be sanguine about the economic outlook in India. Traders took note of report that markets regulator SEBI has withdrew the 20% limit on investments by Foreign Portfolio Investors in corporate bonds of an entity. In a notification, the regulator said the restriction is being withdrawn in accordance with a circular issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Meanwhile, the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has come up with a facility for businesses registered under GST to view and download a report on tax liability as declared in their form GSTR- 1 (final sales return) and as declared and paid in their return filed in form GSTR-3B (summary sales return). Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 216.51 points or 0.58% to 37,752.17, while the CNX Nifty was up by 40.50 points or 0.36% to 11,341.70.