Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded firmly higher for most part of the day but gave up gains in last minutes of trade to end with minor cut on Friday. Markets started off with marginal gains, as traders took some support with a report that India was the biggest recipient of funds from Asian Development Bank last year and would continue to get sovereign loans in excess of $3 billion in 2019 as well. The multilateral funding institution committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986. Buying further crept in as the group of 25 influential American lawmakers has urged the US Trade Representative not to terminate the GSP programme with India after the expiry of the 60-day notice on Friday, saying the country's companies seeking to expand their exports to India could be affected. The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

The trade remained in positive terrain in late afternoon session, taking support from Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that development has always been the top agenda of the government and the centre has given impetus to infrastructure projects in the last five year. However, key indices failed to sustain early gains and ended marginally in red, as traders turned pessimistic with the Finance Ministry’s monthly report stating that India’s economy slowed down slightly in the last fiscal due to declining growth in private consumption, slow increase in fixed investment and muted exports, though it is still fastest growing major economy. It further said there is slowdown of growth in agriculture and sustained growth in industry as well as some challenges.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed on Friday as investors looked ahead to the release of US Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April due later in the day for clues on the strength of the world's largest economy. European markets were trading in green, helped by gains among banks and Germany's Adidas, one day after the regional index suffered its worst loss in six weeks.

Back home, select sugar stocks ended in green with the industry body ISMA stating that Sugar output in India has reached 32.11 million tonnes in the first seven months of the ongoing marketing year that started October 2018, and the total production could touch a new record of 33 million tonnes. Aviation sector stocks ended higher despite ICRA’s report that the pace of growth in air traffic hit a five-year low at 11.6% in fiscal 2019, pulled down by low growth of 3.9% in the March quarter as against a healthy 14.9% in the first three quarters.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38967.65, down by 13.78 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 38920.17 and 39172.76. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.36%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.44%, Telecom up by 1.06%, Bankex up by 0.92%, Auto up by 0.70% and Power up by 0.62%, while IT down by 1.95%, TECK down by 1.56%, FMCG down by 0.90%, Healthcare down by 0.73% and Capital Goods down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.03%, ICICI Bank up by 1.88%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.61%, NTPC up by 1.61% and Yes Bank up by 1.44%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, TCS down by 3.47%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.91%, HCL Tech. down by 1.35%, Tata Steel down by 1.13% and Infosys down by 0.92% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry in its monthly economic report for March has said that Indian economy slowed down slightly in the fiscal year 2018-19 (FY19), though it is still fastest growing major economy. The proximate factors responsible for this slowdown include declining growth of private consumption, tepid increase in fixed investment, and muted exports. It further says there is slowdown of growth in agriculture and sustained growth in industry as well as some challenges.

The Ministry said the Headline inflation - measured using the consumer and wholesale price indices - declined in 2018-19 though inflation has firmed up slightly in recent months. The current account deficit, as percentage of the GDP, improved in Q3 and is set to further improve in Q4 of 2018-19 as the dip in imports has improved the merchandise trade deficit. In line with declining real GDP growth, private consumption in Q4 of 2018-19 has also declined as reflected in the drop of growth of two-wheeler sales towards the end of the year. On the external front, the report said that the current account deficit as ratio to GDP is set to fall in Q4 of 2018-19, which will limit the leakage of growth impulse from the economy.

The monthly report said the fiscal deficit of the Central government has been gliding down to the FRBM target. Monetary policy has attempted to provide a fillip to the growth impulse through cuts in repo rate and easing of bank liquidity. The room for this monetary easing has been created by low inflation in 2018-19, although it has started to inch up in last few months of the year. The real effective exchange rate has appreciated in Q4 of 2018-19 and could pose challenges to the revival of exports in the near future. Increase in foreign exchange reserves in Q4 of 2018-19 on account of improvement in trade balance has increased the import cover for the economy. It also pointed out that while Gross Fiscal Deficit of the Centre has steadily declined in last few years, capital expenditure has been volatile.

The CNX Nifty ended at 11712.60, down by 12.15 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 11699.35 and 11770.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 4.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.94%, NTPC up by 1.88%, ICICI Bank up by 1.62% and Yes Bank up by 1.58%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, TCS down by 3.74%, Britannia Industries down by 3.11%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 2.23%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.17% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 52.72 points or 0.72% to 7,404.03, France’s CAC was up by 12.83 points or 0.23% to 5,551.69 and Germany’s DAX rose 41.94 points or 0.34% to 12,387.36.

Asian markets ended mixed on Friday as investors looked ahead to the release of US Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April due later in the day for clues on the strength of the world's largest economy. US employment is expected to increase by 185,000 jobs in April following the addition of 196,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.8 percent. Crude Oil extending a steep fall from the previous session on surging US output and an expected supply increase from producer club OPEC and putting crude on track for weekly declines. Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares ended higher as the US and China ended their latest round of trade negotiations in Beijing after ‘productive meetings’. Markets in China and Japan were closed for holidays.