Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded with a positive bias for most part of the day but selling activity which took place during late hour of trade mainly forced the markets to cut all of their gains and ended Tuesday’s session in red terrain. With this, the markets logged in third straight day of losses. Key indices made positive start and traded with marginal gains, as traders were taking some support with a private report that sales of Indian junk bonds have made a big comeback in 2019, almost tripling to hit a five-year high, boosted by a risk-on rally prompted by a dovish US Federal Reserve that has given the Asia market a record start to the year. Indian companies have sold $3.7 billion in high-yield, or junk-rated, bonds so far this year, an increase of 187% from 2018. Buying further crept in as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to inject long-term liquidity worth USD 5 billion into the banking system through dollar-rupee buy-sell swap for a tenure of three years, the second such auction within a month. The RBI’s dollar-rupee swap auction would help absorb dollar inflows that could make the rupee stronger. Sentiments remained positive with Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that India will get additional supplies from other major oil producing countries to compensate for loss of Iranian oil.

However, markets reversed all of their gains and entered into negative territory in the last leg of trade, as traders turned wary with the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in its latest payroll data showing that job creation declined by 1.73% in February 2019 to 15.03 lakh as compared to 15.30 lakh in the same month last year. Some cautiousness also remained amongst the market-men with a private report stating that the India Volatility Index shot up to a three-year high of 24.05 on April 22, amid rising uncertainty over the new government formation and soaring crude oil prices. The India VIX, the fear gauge for domestic equities, rose 5.76 per cent to settle at 24.05, after an intra-day high of 24.56. Investors also remained cautious amid third phase polling and Q4 results, ahead of F&O expiry.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, with modest gains, as many markets reopened after the long Easter break, while oil jumped to its highest this year as the United States said it would soon impose sanctions on all buyers of Iranian oil. European markets were trading mostly in red, as investors monitored a number of geopolitical issues and looked ahead to a new earnings season. Back home, select pharma sector stocks ended higher with data showing that India’s pharmaceutical exports rose by 11 percent to $19.2 billion in 2018-19, mainly driven by higher demand in regions such as North America and Europe.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38555.79, down by 89.39 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 38518.26 and 38832.61. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices were ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was down by 0.10%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.24%, Consumer Durables up by 1.02%, Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, Healthcare up by 0.68% and IT up by 0.36%, while Telecom down by 1.37%, Auto down by 1.23%, Utilities down by 1.16%, Power down by 0.68% and Metal down by 0.64% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.12%, Sun Pharma up by 2.99%, Coal India up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.45% and Reliance Industries up by 1.29%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.43%, Yes Bank down by 2.89%, Tata Steel down by 2.29%, Indusind Bank down by 2.09% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.63% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in its latest payroll data has showed that job creation declined by 1.73% in February 2019 to 15.03 lakh as compared to 15.30 lakh in the same month last year. The data showed that during September 2017 to February 2019, nearly 3 crore new subscribers joined the ESIC scheme. The ESIC has been releasing payroll data from April 2018, covering the period starting September 2017. The ESIC provides health insurance and medical services to insured persons covering all those establishments which have 20 or more workers and all those employees whose monthly wages are up to Rs 21,000.

As per the data, the gross new subscribers addition remained the highest at 19.81 lakh in July 2018. The data showed that 2.34 lakh women subscribers joined the ESIC scheme in February 2019 while around 12.69 men enrolled under the scheme. The number of subscribers of Employees State Insurance (ESI) scheme also gives an idea of the level of employment in the formal sector.

According to the latest data, the highest job creation was recorded in January 2019 at 8.94 lakh against the provisional estimate of 8.96 lakh released last month. During February 2019, the highest number of 2.36 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by 2.09 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket. The data showed that 80.86 lakh new jobs were created in the 18 months period from September 2017 to February 2019.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11575.85, down by 18.60 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 11564.80 and 11645.95. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.99%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.27%, Sun Pharma up by 3.05%, Indiabulls Housing Finnace up by 1.58% and Coal India up by 1.57%.  (Provisional)

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.65%, Yes Bank down by 2.75%, Tata Steel down by 2.25%, Indusind Bank down by 2.25% and Bharti Infratel down by 2.19% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 13.73 points or 0.25% to 5,566.65 and Germany’s DAX shed 31.46 points or 0.26% to 12,190.93, while UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 23.77 points or 0.32% to 7,483.65.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, with modest gains, as many markets reopened after the long Easter break, while oil jumped to its highest this year as the United States said it would soon impose sanctions on all buyers of Iranian oil. The Trump administration said it would no longer exempt any countries from US sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil. Japanese shares eked out modest gains, with oil-related stocks pacing the gainers after oil prices hit 2019 highs. However, Chinese stocks extended losses on concerns that Beijing will slow the pace of further policy easing after unexpectedly strong first-quarter economic data last week. Reports from a recent high-level meeting in China, which was chaired by President Xi Jinping, showed willingness to fine-tune monetary policy but raised questions about future government stimulus. Besides, traders remained on sidelines ahead of a slew of US earnings reports from big companies such as Twitter starting Tuesday.