Post Session: Quick Review

Surging for second day in row, Indian equity benchmarks ended the last trading day of the current financial year 2018-19 on an optimistic note, following strong trend seen in other Asian markets. Markets started off with marginal gains, as traders took some support with Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India's merchandise and services export would touch $540-billion mark this fiscal. He said exports are growing at a healthy pace and shipments of goods would reach over $330 billion. Similarly, services exports would touch about $200 billion. Meanwhile, credit rating agency Fitch Ratings in its latest report that non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of Indian banking sector improved during the first nine months of the current financial year, on the back of lower fresh slippages and better recoveries.

Markets extended their gains in late hour of trade as optimism remained among traders as Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh made a case for setting up a fiscal council as an institutional mechanism to monitor fiscal consolidation roadmap of the Centre and state governments. He also said fiscal federalism is a dynamic process and 'a Work in Motion'. The street took a note of the Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu’s statement that farmers were critical for the well-being of the nation and they play a huge role in ensuring and maintaining home grown food security in India. Market participants shrugged off RBI data showing that India Inc's borrowings from foreign markets fell to $2.81 billion in February, down by 9 per cent as compared to the year-ago month.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly in green on Friday, while European markets were trading in green, as hopes rise on reported progress in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing this week. Back home, cement stocks were buzzing with ICRA’s report that India’s cement industry saw a 13.6% year-on-year increase in volume to 275.7 million metric tonnes in the first ten months of the current fiscal, driven largely by rural and affordable housing. The growth was almost double the 7% increase forecast by the agency.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38680.27, up by 134.55 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 38546.68 and 38748.54. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.00%, while Small cap index was up by 0.69%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.52%, Basic Materials up by 2.11%, Healthcare up by 1.36%, Auto up by 1.11% and Oil & Gas up by 1.06%, while Utilities down by 0.36%, FMCG down by 0.06% and Bankex down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 3.37%, Tata Steel up by 2.76%, ONGC up by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.15% and Tata Motors up by 1.88%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.99%, NTPC down by 1.44%, ITC down by 1.08%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.89% and ICICI Bank down by 0.45% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, expressing hopes over India’s exports growth, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the country’s merchandise and services export would touch about $540 billion mark in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2019. He added that exports are growing at a healthy pace and shipments of goods would reach over $330 billion, similarly, services exports would touch about $200 billion.

Earlier, Prabhu had said the country’s exports have risen despite global uncertainties in the early part of FY19. Besides, merchandise exports for the period April-February 2018-19 was $298.47 billion as against $274.21 billion during the period April-February 2017-18, registering a positive growth of 8.85%. In the last fiscal year, total exports stood at $302.84 billion, below the government’s target of $310 billion, while it was $275.85 billion in the year before.

Talking about the stalled negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and European Union, the minister said India is keen to resume the talks. He said ‘We are really keen to have this FTA with EU. India will work to find a workable deal’. The negotiations for the pact, officially dubbed as the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement, have been held up since May 2013 and have witnessed many hurdles.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11629.80, up by 59.80 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 11570.15 and 11630.20. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 5.18%, ONGC up by 3.98%, Vedanta up by 3.90%, Grasim Industries up by 3.59% and BPCL up by 3.27%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.93%, Indusind Bank down by 2.18%, Eicher Motors down by 1.84%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.63% and NTPC down by 1.47% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 41.77 points or 0.58% to 7,276.10, France’s CAC soared 34.93 points or 0.66% to 5,331.47 and Germany’s DAX gained 48.43 points or 0.42% to 11,476.59.

Asian markets ended mostly in green on Friday as investors remained hopeful that the US and China would ultimately reach a deal to end their protracted trade war. A rise in benchmark US bond yields also helped revive investors' appetite for riskier assets. Chinese shares led regional gains as the US delegation led by trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrived in Beijing on Thursday for the latest round of talks. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is expected to travel to Washington next week, but any final deal to end the trade war is expected to be agreed only at a proposed summit between President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump. Further, Japanese shares ended higher as investors reacted to a mixed bag of local economic data. Retail sales dipped slightly in February from the previous month, while industrial output grew for the first time in four months and the jobless rate hit nine-month low, separate reports showed.